C.W.BURKETT 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


GIFT  OF 

Paul  i'openoe 


WEST  INDIA  GARDENS 


SOILS 


Their  Properties,  Improvement, 
Management,  and  the  Problems  of 
Crop  Growing  and  Crop  Feeding 


By 

CHARLES  WILLIAM  BURKETT 

Director  of  the  Agricultural  Experiment  Station, 
Kansas  State  Agricultural  College 


Where  grows  ? — Where  grows  it  not  ?     If  vain  our  toil, 
We  ought  to  blame  the  culture,  not  the  soil. 

POPE. 


ILLUSTRATED 


NEW   YORK 

ORANGE    JUDD    COMPANY 

LONDON 

KEGAN    PAUL,    TRENCH,    TRUBNER    &    Co.,   LIMITED 
1912 


COPYRIGHT,  1907,  BY 

ORANGE  JUDD  COMPANY 

All  Rifhtt  Reserved 


fKNTERKD   AT  STATIONERS*   HALL.   LONDON,    ENGLAND 


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 


The  author  is  under  obligations  to  many  friends  for  helpful 
suggestions  and  illustrations.  Especial  credit  is  due  the  following 
for  illustrations  used  on  the  pages  indicated :  Professor  E.  O.  Pippin, 
of  Cornell  University,  29.  31,  34,  36,  65,  91,  94,  113,  173,  174,  192, 
195,  198,  204,  218,  236,  266,  280,  283,  etc. ;  Professor  A.  M.  Ten  Eyck, 
of  the  Kansas  Experiment  Station,  2,  13,  20,  47,  197,  270;  Professor 
Oscar  Erf,  of  Kansas  Experiment  Station,  207,  209,  211,  259; 
Professor  Charles  E.  Thome,  Director  of  the  Ohio  Experiment 
Station,  100,  105 :  Dr.  C.  G.  Hopkins,  of  the  Illinois  Experiment 
Station,  267,  268;  Mr.  George  K.  Helder,  177.  178,  180,  182,  183,  194, 
202.  Thanks  are  also  due  the  Orange  Judd  Company  for  many 
photographs  and  Mr.  B.  F.  Williamson  for  the  line  drawings. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

Introduction I 

I.  The   Soil  Makers 7 

II.  The  Soils  that  Living  Things  Have  Made     ...  17 

III.  What   We   Find   in    Soils 23 

IV.  Concerning  the  Texture  of  the  Soil 34 

V.  How  Plants  Feed 44 

VI.  The  Elements  that  Plants  Use 52 

VII.  How  Plant  Food  is  Preserved 62 

VIII.  Getting  Acquainted  with  Plant  Food 71 

IX.  The  Potential  Plant  Food:  Its  Stores  and  Nature  79 

X.  The  Role  that  Tillage  Plays 88 

XI.  Liming  the  Land :   A  Corrective  for  Acidity     .     .  90 

XII.  The  Quest  of   Nitrogen 108 

XIII.  The  Release  of  Soil  Nitrogen :  The  Return  to  the  Air  117 

XIV.  Nitrification :  Nitrogen  Made  Ready  for  Plants  .     .  124 
XV.  Reclaiming  Lost  Nitrogen :  the  Call  to  the  Air     .     .  132 

XVI.  Soil   Inoculation :   How   Done 143 

XVII.  Draining   the   Land 152 

XVIII.  Soil  Water:  How  it  is  Lost;  how  it  May  be  Held  164 

XIX.  Dry  Farming:   A  Problem   in  Water  Conservation  176 

XX.  Tillage  Tools :  What  They  are  for ;  how  to  Use  Them  185 

XXI.  The  Cultivation  of  Crops :  The  Tools  and  Purposes  197 

XXII.  Stable  Manure :  Its  Composition  and  its  Preservation  206 

XXIII.  Handling  Manure  on  the  Farm 216 

XXIV.  Buying   Plant  Food  for  the   Soil 227 

XXV.  Using  Chemical  Manures  Intelligently 238 

XXVI.  Mixing  Fertilizers  at  Home 246 

XXVII.  Dairying:  An  Example  in  Soil  Building     ....  255 

XXVIII.  Rotation  of  Crops 266 

XXIX.  The  Old,  Worn-out  Soils :  What  we  May  do  for  Them  282 

XXX.  Conclusion:  A  Bit  of  Philosophy  ......  291 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 

Only  the   Roots   Remain   Behind 2 

A  Bit  of  Earth's  Clothing 5 

Gradually   Changing    from   Rock  to   Soil 8 

Cover  Crop  for  the  Orchard 12 

A  Field  of  Corn  Carried  Away  by  a  Raging  Flood  ....  13 

Just  after  a  Flood 15 

Soil  Builders  at  Work 18 

Alfalfa  Roots  Go  Deep  into  the  Soil 20 

A  Crop  that  is  Hard  on  the  Soil 24 

Section  of  Soil  Showing  Air  Spaces  and  Particles  ....  26 

On  Two  Types  of  Soil 29 

Crop   Adaptation 31 

A   Case    of    Bad  Texture 34 

Taking    Soil    Samples 36 

The   Pore-space  of  the   Soil 37 

A  Soil  that  Needs  Humus 39 

Circulation  of  Water  in  the  Soil 40 

Vegetable  Matter  Aids  the  Soil  in  Holding  Water  ....  42 

Trees  in  the   Prairie   Region 43 

How  Plant  Food  Gets  into  the  Soil 44 

The  Underside  of  a  Leaf  with  a  Microscope 46 

Oats 47 

Cross-section    of    Root    Hair 48 

Root  Hairs 48 

How  the   Sap  Current  Moves 49 

The  Greater  Part  of  this  Wonderful  Crop  Comes  from  the  Air  55 

Getting  Humus  into  the  Soil 59 

Cotton  Plant  Above  and  Below  the  Ground 62 

A  Root  Hair  with  Soil  Attached 64 

Making  Plant  Food  Available 65 

At  Work  in  the  Corn-field 67 

Getting   Ready   for   Cotton 68 

Poor  Grass,  Poor  Cattle 73 


Vlll  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Corn  Growing  in  Surface  and  Subsoil 76 

A  Crop  that  Calls  for  Much  Nitrogen 79 

A  Crop  that  Gets  Nitrogen  from  the  Air 82 

A   Sure  Way  to  Improve   the   Soil 84 

Increasing  the  Nitrogen  with   Legumes 86 

Alfalfa   Roots:    Vegetable   Tillage   Tools 89 

A   Good   Job  of   Plowing 91 

Plowed  for  the  First  Time 93 

Effect  of  Plowing  Wet  Land 94 

Limed  and  Unlimed  Land 100 

Using  the   Lime  Spreader 105 

A  Magnificent  Crop  of  Beans 113 

Two  Kinds  of  Bacteria  Found  in  Decaying  Vegetable  Matter     .  120 

Bacteria  Usually  Found  in  Decaying  Organic  Matter     ...  121 

Some  Bacteria  that  Cause  the  Fermentation  of  Urine     .     .     .  123 

Nitrifying    Bacteria 127 

Losing  Nitrogen  and  Humus 132 

Root  Tubercle  Bacteria 139 

Back  of  Good  Tillage  is  the  Well-bred  Farm  Horse     .      .      .  142 

Some  Legume  Roots   Showing   Root  Tubercles 145 

Growing  Bacteria  in  the  Laboratory 149 

Alfalfa:  the  Best  All-round  Crop  in  America 150 

Red   Clover    Roots 153 

Soil  Temperature 155 

A  Way  to  Help  the  Drainage 156 

Losing  Soils  by  Heavy  Rains 158 

The  Result  when  Water  was  Secured  and  Held 164 

Effect  of  Cultivation  of  Corn  Crop 165 

Cultivation   Checks    Evaporation 166 

A  Home-made  Roller 169 

Disking  the  Ground  before  Plowing 171 

A  Stone  Mulch 173 

A  Good   Mulch 174 

Kaffir  Corn 177 

Corn   Planted  with  Disk  Furrow-opener  Attached    ....  178 

Double   Disking    the   Land 180 

"Out   There    in   Kansas" 181 

Sub-surface  Packing 182 

Dry   Land   Farming 183 

Ideal  Plowing 186 

Furrow  Slices  that  are  too  Flat 186 


ILLUSTRATIONS  IX 

Plowing  Levees  for  Rice 188 

Everything  is  Done  at  One  Operation 190 

Where    Rolling    Does    Little    Good 192 

The  Acme  Harrow 194 

A  Step  in  Soil  Preparation 195 

Corn  Roots 197 

Cultivating   the    Orchard 198 

The  Gentle  Art  of  Cultivation 200 

Catalpa  Tree  with  One  Season's  Growth 202 

Losing  Water  from   Soil 204 

The  Erf  Stabling   System 207 

Losing   Fertility 209 

A   Covered    Barnyard 211 

Letting  the    Manure   Get  Away 216 

A  Common  Way  but  Poor  Practice 218 

Hauling  Manure  to  the  Field 220 

Manure  Spreader  at  Work 221 

Crimson  Clover  in  the  South 224 

Cow-peas  and  Fertilizers  and  a  Poor  Soil 227 

A  Case  where  All  Three  Elements  Are  Needed 228 

Our  Common  Fertilizing  Materials 230 

Where  Acid  Phosphate  Pays 233 

A  Muck  Soil  that  Profitably  Uses   Potassium 236 

Plant  Food  in  a  Bag  of  Fertilizer 241 

The  Bag  and  the  Plant  Food  in  It 243 

Fertilizers  Pay  Best  when  Good  Plowing  Has  Been  Done  .     .  247 

The  Soil  that  Tells  Its  Own  Story 251 

Where  Alfalfa   Prospers   Dairying  Prospers 256 

Complete  Irrigating  System  with  Dairy  House  and  Residence 

Attached 259 

A    Balance    Wheel    in    Farming 260 

Two  Kinds  of  Farming 262 

Relative  Amounts  of  Plant  Food  when  a  Ton  of  Each  is  Sold  263 

Crop  Rotation 266 

Corn  in  Growing  Stage 267 

Corn  at  Harvest  Time 268 

Cow-pea  Roots 270 

Crop  of  Corn  and  Cow-peas  the  Same  Year 272 

Close    Rotation    of    Crops 278 

Crop  Rotation  and  Mixed  Farming  Go  Hand  in  Hand  .     .     .  277 

Timothy  May  Go  in  Rotation 280 


X  ILLUSTRATIONS 

In  Perfect  Condition 283 

What  Humus  Does  in  the  Soil 285 

Grow  Legumes  Constantly 288 

One  Kind  of  Farming  that  Improves  the  Land 291 

A  Sure  Way  to  Ruin  the  Farm 293 

Seven  of  Our  Leading  Products 295 

Intensive    Farming 296 

A  Department  of  the  Farm  Factory 298 

"Thro*  Wood  and  Mead" 299 


THE  PLOW 

BY  V.  F.  BOYSON 
[By  courtesy  Everybody's  Magazine.} 

I   am   a  worker. 

Sleep  on   and  take  your  rest 

Though  my  sharp  coulter  shows  white  in  the  dawn: 

Beating  through  wind  and   rain, 

Furrowing  hill  and  plain 

Till  twilight  dims  the  west 

And  I  stand  darkly  against  the  night  sky. 

I  am  a  worker,  I,  the  plow. 

I   feed   the   peoples. 

Eagerly  wait  on  me 

High-born    and    low-born,    pale    children    of    want: 

Kingdoms   may   rise    and    wane, 

War    claim    her   tithe    of    slain, 

Hands  are  outstretched  to  me. 

Master   of   men   am    I,   seeming   a   slave, 

I  feed  the  peoples,  I,  the  plow. 

I   prove   God's  word    true — 

Toiling  that  earth  may  give 

Fruit    men    shall    gather    with    songs    in    the    sun. 

Where  sleeps  the  hidden  grain 

Corn-fields  shall  wave   again; 

Showing  that  while  men  live 

Nor  seed  nor  harvest  time  ever  will  cease. 

I  prove  God's  words  true,  I,  the  plow. 


INTRODUCTION 


THE  EARTH'S  CLOTHING 

It  has  been  calculated  that  if  the  earth  were  tunneled 
direct  to  the  other  side,  7,918  miles  would  be  traveled  in 
making  the  journey.  But  a  difficulty  would  be  met  in 
this  endeavor :  After  going  a  few  miles,  the  heat  would 
be  so  intense  that  further  progress  would  be  impossible. 
For  as  we  descend  into  the  earth,  after  going  a  very  little 
way,  the  temperature  rises  at  the  rate  of  I  degree  for 
every  50  feet,  a  rate  that  is  universal  over  the  earth's 
surface,  and  for  the  greatest  depth  attained. 

From  the  known  laws  of  the  conduction  of  heat  the 
conclusion  follows  that  at  a  depth  of  15  to  20  miles  below 
the  surface  the  earth  is  red  hot,  while  the  heat  100  miles 
deeper,  if  applied  at  the  surface,  would  liquefy  all  mate- 
rials at  the  surface  crust.  These  known  facts  have  led 
to  an  hypothesis  that  the  interior  of  the  earth  is  more  or 
less  fluid,  and  that  the  crust  is  only  a  thin  shell  floating 
on  the  molten  globe. 

However,  the  earth  as  a  body  is  very  rigid  and  sub- 
jected to  a  pressure  so  great  that  despite  the  high  tem- 
perature, the  interior  is  locked  into  a  solid  mass  as  rigid 
as  steel  itself. 

But  after  all,  we  are  concerned  less  with  the  interior 
of  the  earth  and  with  the  surface  more.  Our  aim  is  to 
know  the  outer  covering — the  clothing  that  encloses  this 
hidden  interior — and  to  use  its  history  to  our  profit  and 
good.  Every  science  has  labored  with  the  secret  that 
is  hidden  in  this  clothing  of  the  earth  that  the  world 
might  know  some  of  the  stories  it  has  to  tell :  of  the 


2  INTRODUCTION 

strange  forms  of  vegetation  that  once  visited  here;  of 
the  bizarre  creatures  that  peopled  it  in  old  days — before 
man  came  and  before  the  myriads  of  present-day  friends 
and  foes  had  sprung  into  existence ;  of  the  monsters  that 
throve  and  multiplied  and  brought  fear  and  death  to 
weaker  kind ;  of  the  hideous  reptiles  that  crawled  over 
the  slimy  domain,  battling  with  each  other  or  with  the 


ONLY   THE   ROOTS    REMAIN    BEHIND 
This  picture  is  an  example  of  the  power  of  water  In  soil  making 


denizens  of  the  forest;  of  primitive  man — weak,  dull, 
savage,  and  yet  endowed  with  more  cunning  of  brain — 
fulfilling  his  mission  and  preparing  the  way  for  better 
and  higher  tribes ;  of  all  the  agencies  that  have  been  at 
work  in  the  making  of  the  garment  that  covers  this  great 
body ;  of  the  soil,  the  real  covering,  and  all  it  means : 
these  many  stories  have  been  told  in  rock  and  stone  and 


INTRODUCTION  3 

in  slowly  perishable  materials,  and  so  clearly  told  that 
man  reads  and  reflects  and  profits  in  the  lessons  that  are 
learned.  And  of  some  of  these  we  want  to  learn  in  the 
pages  that  follow. 

The  soil:  the  clothing  of  the  earth. — The  real  cloth- 
ing of  the  earth  is  the  soil — and  we  are  to  study  it :  the 
good,  kind  soil  that  brings  us  so  many  useful  and  beau- 
tiful and  wholesome  things.  For  with  the  soil  is  the  real 
beginning  of  all  material  things,  of  all  useful  things; 
of  all  things  that  secure  contentment ;  of  all  things  that 
lead  to  comfort  and  happiness  ;  of  all  things  that  have  to 
do  with  food  and  raiment  and  shelter;  of  all  things  that 
advance  mankind  and  promote  civilization.  All  of  these 
things  spring  from  the  soil — from  the  simple,  inanimate, 
material  thing  we  call  dirt. 

The  earth's  clothing  includes  the  soil  in  all  its  varia- 
tions; includes  the  dirt  in  which  plants  root  and  feed 
and  grow ;  includes  the  rock  and  stony  structures  of  sea 
and  mountain ;  includes  the  waters  of  the  soil  and  of  the 
deep;  includes  the  minerals  in  the  mines  that  man  seeks, 
often  losing  his  life  in  the  search;  includes  the  insect, 
the  worm,  the  bacterium,  and  every  form  of  life  that 
labors  for  its  usefulness  and  grandeur ;  includes  the 
fruits  of  field  and  soil — the  life  that  grows  therein  and 
makes  food  for  man  and  beast ;  includes  the  tree  that 
grows  and  fructifies  in  forest  or  orchard ;  includes  the 
cultivated  crop  of  every  variety  and  species,  of  every 
form  and  description  ;  includes  every  vegetable  type  that 
provides  raiment,  or  covering  in  the  open,  or  when  re- 
moved from  its  place  of  growth,  becomes  house  and 
shelter  that  protects  and  guards  and  comforts;  includes 
everything  that  has  use  and  that  supplies  a  want  in  every 
part  of  the  world  and  for  every  purpose.  All  these 
things  come  from  the  soil,  from  the  magnificent  garment 


4  INTRODUCTION 

that  clothes  the  earth.  "Before  literature  existed,  before 
governments  were  known,  agriculture  was  the  calling  of 
man.  And  all  the  fruits  of  social  progress  since  then 
grew  from  the  brown  soil." 

The  soil  changes  its  clothing. — The  clothing  of  the 
earth  is  a  changing  one.  It  is  of  as  many  colors  as  the 
coat  of  Joseph.  And  this  clothing  changes  not  in  color 
only,  but  in  texture,  in  wearing  ability,  in  usefulness. 
For  are  there  not  many  soils  that  had  poverty  as  their 
inheritance  and  still  others  that  had  only  the  fullest 
riches?  Yet  both  kinds  meet  at  a  common  point  so 
often — the  rich  have  become  poor,  the  poor  have  become 
rich. 

All  over  our  land  this  change  is  observed.  To  man's 
credit,  however,  we  are  now  at  a  point  in  farming  where 
this  may  be  corrected,  for  we  realize  that  the  soil  is 
capable  of  change  and  of  improvement:  it  offers  a  great 
opportunity  for  thought  and  study.  Applied  here,  knowl- 
edge brings  abundant  returns. 

The  soil  and  the  subsoil. — There  are  two  layers  of  this 
clothing:  the  soil  and  the  subsoil,  and  of  course  we  must 
give  due  weight  to  both  with  any  discussion  of  crop  pro- 
duction or  in  any  method  of  land  management.  In  both 
soil  and  subsoil  are  found  organic  and  inorganic  mate- 
rials, although  the  subsoil  contains  a  greater  portion  of 
the  latter  substances  than  the  soil  immediately  over  it. 

It  is  in  both  of  these  layers  that  the  roots  of  plants  grow, 
and  now  that  we  know  more  about  roots  than  we  did  a 
few  years  ago,  we  ought  to  be  able  to  handle  lands  with 
greater  certainty  and  to  grow  crops  with  more  profit.  We 
know  where  roots  grow;  we  know  the  places  in  which 
they  feed  and  just  how  they  do  their  work.  Is  this  not  a 
practical  turn  ?  Roots  grow  from  their  tips,  and  at  these 
points  they  gather  food  and  drink.  With  the  passing  of 


INTRODUCTION 


5 


a  little  time  the  tip  end  is  sent  further  on  in  the  search ; 
it  grows  longer;  it  finds  a  new  place  to  take  nourishment. 

The  roots  grow  on  and  on  and  new  root  hairs  form, 
taking  their  nutriment  from  the  new  and  fresh  pastures. 
So  all  about  in  the  soil  they  go,  just  below  the  surface, 
a  little  deeper  in  the  soil  top;  even  in  the  subsoil  (if  they 
can  enter  it),  and  all  the  while  they  search  and  seek  for 
plant  food  that  the  great  body  above  may  be  supplied. 

Fertility  is  more  than  soil. — And  we  should  bear  in 
mind  that  fertility  is  more  than  a  mere  abundance  of 
plant  food  in  the  soil  (we  have  learned  more  about  the 
soil).  Fertility  is  plant  food,  of  course,  but  in  part,  only. 
It  is  water — just  the  right  amount  and  served  when 
needed.  It  is  climate — neither  too  cold  nor  too  hot  for 
the  particular  plant.  It  is  texture — soil  grains  of  proper 
size  and  in  proper  relation  to  control  heat,  moisture,  and 
air.  It  is  humus — a  goodly  amount  to  supply  nitrogen 
as  required,  and  to  help  in  making  pleasant  and  comfort- 
able the  home  of  the  roots.  It  is  tillage — the  real,  true 
sort  of  tillage  that  provides  tilth  and  mellowness.  It  is 


A  BIT  OF  THE  EARTH'S  CLOTH  INC 


O  INTRODUCTION 

the  plant — the  right  kind  for  the  particular  soil.  Fer- 
tility springs  from  these  and  from  all  other  contributions 
that  secure  a  soil  environment  to  the  liking  of  the  grow- 
ing plant.  Hence,  the  plant  food  of  the  soil  is  an  incident, 
but  a  necessary  incident,  just  as  heat  and  air  and  water 
and  tillage  and  texture  are  incidents  and  prerequisites  of 
high  production. 


SOILS 

CHAPTER  I 
THE  SOIL  MAKERS 

Do  not  think,  gentle  reader,  that  I  am  going  to  weary 
you  with  a  long  discussion  about  {lie  history  of  the 
ground.  The  only  misgivings  the  author  has  had  in  the 
preparation  of  this  volume  has  been  the  necessity  of  say- 
ing these  few  words  that  follow  about  the  soil  makers, 
the  agencies  that  have  been  at  work  making  the  soil. 
Important?  Yes,  in  a  way;  but  if  you  see  the  matter 
as  I  do,  you  are  more  interested  in  having  the  soil  dem- 
onstrate what  it  can  do  now,  rather  than  to  inquire  into  its 
line  of  descent;  to  be  familiar  with  its  ability  to  do  work 
and  to  perform  to-day,  rather  than  to  know  its  ancestral 
life  of  long  years  ago. 

First  effort  in  soil  making. — To  find  the  first  effort 
in  soil  making  we  shall  have  to  go  back  to  a  time  far  into 
the  past ;  back  before  man  had  appeared ;  farther  back 
yet  than  the  time  when  plants  had  begun  their  existence. 
For  is  it  not  true  that  plants  must  have  raiment  for  their 
roots — earth  in  which  they  may  grow  and  out  of  which 
they  may  get  food  and  drink? 

\Ve  shall  have  to  go  back — very  far  back  in  the  past — 
when  the  surface  was  cooling  and  forming  its  crust, 
when  the  entire  surface  of  the  earth  was  rock — no  ani- 
mals, no  cultivated  crops,  no  trees,  no  grass — not  even 
the  tiniest  form  of  bug  or  plant  or  beast. 

For  at  this  time  the  earth  was  void  and  without  form, 


8  SOILS 

although  surrounded  by  an  atmosphere  of  mist  and  vapor. 
When  this  rocky  and  molten  mass  of  earth  began  to  cool, 
its  crust  became  broken  and  uneven.  But  no  soil  was 
there,  only  hard,  fire-burned  rock.  Then  centuries 
passed — thousands  and  thousands  of  them.  The  molten 
mass  had  cooled.  The  darkness  that  was  on  the  face  of 
the  deep  gave  way  to  light  and  change.  For  the  light 
came  from  the  sun  and  these  rays  the  rocks  absorbed. 
They  felt  the  refining  influence,  also,  of  the  air  as  it 
played  over  the  wrinkled  faces  of  rock  and  cliff.  At  first 
these  two  agencies  made  but  little,  if  any,  impression. 
So  hard  was  the  rock,  what  might  air  and  sunshine  do? 


GRADUALLY  CHANGING  FROM  ROCK  TO  SOIL 

But  busy  bodies,  that  are  at  work  always  and  ever,  gradu- 
ally gain  their  ends,  and  so  these  first  rocks,  now  cold, 
now  warm  but  yet  so  hard  and  strong — and  so  brutal— 
slowly  gave  up  their  determined  tenacity  and  lost  some 
of  their  strength  and  hidden  power.  A  little  softening, 
and  they  were  changed,  just  as  the  refining  influence 
of  good  air  and  much  sunshine  refines  the  plant  or  beast 
or  man  that  comes  under  their  spell  and  change. 


THE   SOIL    MAKERS  9 

How  the  atmosphere  assists. — Just  as  soon  as  the  first 
rocks  were  exposed  to  the  weather,  remarkable  changes 
then  resulted.  The  rocks,  after  long  exposure,  crumbled 
somewhat ;  just  a  few  particles,  a  few  tiny  grains  from 
time  to  time  fell  apart  from  the  whole  and  dropped  to  a 
lower  level  to  be  carried  away  by  water;  or  they  were 
picked  up  and  carried  away  by  the  wind  when  it  rose 
in  sufficient  force  to  defy  the  mighty  giants  of  rock  forma- 
tion. Of  course  the  wind  accomplished  but  little  with 
each  attack.  But  the  wind  is  ever  young ;  it  never  grows 
old,  and  a  thousand  years  of  trial  weaken  it  not.  These 
tiny  particles — the  first  released  from  rock — represent  the 
beginnings  in  soil  making.  And  ever  since  the  time, 
who  shall  say  how  long?  that  these  first  particles  were 
given  to  the  wind,  the  weather  has  been  at  work  making 
soil. 

The  atmosphere  assists  in  soil  making  because  of  the 
chemical  action  of  the  gases  that  compose  the  air  and  of 
the  moisture  or  vapor  it  holds.  The  two  important  gases 
that  are  so  powerful  in  making  soil  are  oxygen  and  car- 
bonic acid.  They  are  always  at  work ;  they  have  been  at 
work  from  the  very  beginning  of  time ;  and  so  long  as 
life"* exists,  from  the  tiniest  plant  up  to  the  finest  devel- 
oped type  of  man,  oxygen  will  be  required  for  the  work 
of  the  world. 

Oxygen  forms  oxides  by  combining  with  nearly  all 
sorts  of  materials  that  are  found  in  the  earth.  You  know 
how  quickly  iron  rusts  when  exposed  to  the  air,  especially 
if  moist — an  oxide  of  iron  has  resulted :  not  that  the  iron 
has  been  destroyed  nor  the  oxygen  of  the  air  that  com- 
bined with  it,  but  the  two  have  united  and  formed  a  new 
chemical  compound,  powdery  in  texture  and  now  in  a 
form  to  be  easily  combined  with  acid  so  as  to  become 
food  which  plants  may  use. 


IO  SOILS 

The  carbonic  acid  of  the  air  serves  its  part,  also,  but  in 
another  way.  It  works  with  water  and  in  this  manner: 
the  two  substances — carbonic  acid  and  water — readily 
commingle  and  produce  a  liquid  that  is  strong  as  a  sol- 
vent, effective  as  a  dissolving  agent,  so  as  to  weaken  the 
rocks,  and  active  as  a  selective  power  which  seeks  the 
soft  minerals  of  earthy  formations  and  quarries  them 
for  plant  builders  to  use. 

Oxygen  and  carbonic  acid  work  whether  man  would 
have  them  or  not ;  they  ask  not  his  permit  when  they 
shall  work  nor  where ;  and  neither  do  they  ask  on  what 
materials  they  shall  satisfy  their  desires.  They  work  for 
Nature  and  to  her  they  belong,  and  in  this  case  they  re- 
fuse to  bow  or  to  conform  to  man's  wishes. 

But  air  and  water  are  usually  most  effective  as  soil 
makers  when  they  are  working  together,  for  they  accom- 
plish more  and  do  it  more  quickly.  You  have  seen  per- 
haps some  iron  tool  that  for  years  has  remained  in  the 
bottom  of  a  well,  the  water  having  made  no  perceptible 
headway  against  it.  Because  no  air  was  there,  rust  did 
not  result.  And  again,  you  have  seen  another  iron  tool 
kept  in  an  atmosphere  that  was  dry.  You  note  no  per- 
ceptible disintegration  because  moisture  is  highly  essen- 
tial for  iron  to  change  into  its  own  powdery  dust. 

In  dry  climates  rocks  last  longer  than  in  moist  climates 
for  the  reasons  explained  in  reference  to  the  dissolving 
action  of  air,  carbonic  acid,  and  moisture. 

Changes  in  temperature  play  a  part. — In  the  early 
days  the  earth  had  a  larger  garment  to  clothe  it  than  it 
now  possesses.  It  was  very  hot — a  boiling  mass,  at  first. 
As  time  went  on,  the  outer  crust  became  cool,  and  at  the 
same  time  this  crust  hardened  and  became  fixed  in  char- 
acter, but  only  temporarily ;  only  long  enough  for  the 
cooled  crust  to  deepen  its  thickness,  when  the  entire  body 


THE   SOIL    MAKERS  II 

must  contract;  because,  you  know  all  matter  expands 
when  heated  and  becomes  smaller  when  cooled.  With 
the  cooling  of  the  earth  its  outer  clothing  was  drawn  in, 
with  the  result  that  it  was  wrinkled — hills  here  and  high 
mountains  there — which  continued  so  long  as  the  con- 
tractive force  was  greater  than  the  holding  force  of  the 
crust.  In  all  this  work  changes  were  taking  place.  Huge 
beds  of  rock  were  thrown  up  and  exposed  in  an  hundred 
places  to  air  and  moisture,  where  before  they  were  so 
snugly  covered  that  neither  could  enter. 

The  earth  continued  to  cool  and  in  some  places  ice 
formed.  Vapor  condensed  and  dropped  as  rain.  For  cen- 
turies rain  had  fallen,  but  as  it  struck  the  hard  earth  it  was 
flung  back  into  the  air  again  as  vapor  and  mist.  As  the 
earth  gradually  cooled,  water  was  thrown  back  with  less 
vengeance  and  force.  Some  of  it  was  left  for  a  consider- 
able time  on  the  earth,  where  it  had  collected  in  basins,  or 
in  crevices  in  the  rock.  It  was  caught  here  at  times  by 
wind-storms  that  were  cold  enough  to  freeze  this  gathered 
water.  As  the  water  froze,  it  expanded,  forcing  many 
crevices  wider,  breaking  many  rocks  asunder — and  doing 
what  we  are  pleased  to  call  its  share  in  soil  making. 

It  is  this  change  in  temperature  that  assists  in  soil 
making — that  weakens  the  original  rocks  that  were  ages 
ago  forced  from  the  very  bowels  of  the  earth. 

Rocks  such  as  the  granite  type — when  alternately  heated 
and  cooled  for  a  long  time — gradually  weaken  and  break. 
Sudden  changes  in  temperature  produce  similar  results. 
Temperature  is  more  active  when  moisture  is  present. 
Even  in  the  modern  world  we  see  stone  buildings,  that 
frequently  drop  a  corner  or  a  slab,  due  to  sudden  freezing 
when  saturated  with  water.  You  recall  with  what  ease 
the  same  may  be  done  with  a  hammer  on  a  cold  day. 

Since  nearly  all  rocks,  even  those  deeply  imbedded  in 


12  SOILS 

the  soil,  contain  not  a  small  amount  of  water,  cold  be- 
comes a  most  potent  as  well  as  a  most  active  agent  in 
breaking  and  pulverizing  them  and  in  preparing  them  for 
the  soil  itself. 

Water  wears  away  the  rock. — But  water  is  a  soil 
maker  in  another  way  than  as  a  solvent.  By  simple  fric- 
tion it  wears  the  hardest  rock  and  makes  for  itself  a  track 
in  which  it  may  flow  with  greater  ease.  This  action  of 
the  water  has  been  so  constant,  and  so  regular,  through 
so  many  summers  and  winters,  and  at  work  for  so  many, 
many  centuries,  that  it  has  widened  and  deepened  its 


COVER  CROP  FOR  THE  ORCHARD 
Oats  are  used  here,  and  do  good  service  for  protection  against  water  and  wind 

channels  in  all  parts  of  the  earth  so  that  millions  and 
millions  of  tons  of  solid  rock  have  been  washed  from 
higher  to  lower  levels,  the  dissolved  part  being  left  in 
lower  regions  or  carried  out  into  the  sea,  where  the  ac- 
cumulations for  centuries  have  made  new  lands,  some  of 
which  are  now  and  for  long  times  have  been  used  for  the 
growing  of  many  of  the  necessities  of  man. 

Every  time  you  see  moving  water  in  a  stream,  you  see 
a  soil  maker  at  work.  With  even  a  light  shower  the  water 
deepens  its  color,  since  the  stream,  the  road  and  the  field 


THE   SOIL    MAKERS 


give  up  their  finest  dust,  and  send  real  soil  downward  to  a 
lower  level.  It  is  beyond  our  power  to  estimate  the  enor- 
mous quantity  of  soil  that  is  moved  during  a  single  year. 
A  single  illustration  will  show  how  great  this  quantity  is: 
The  Mississippi  River  as  it  pours  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico 
each  year  deposits  soil  sufficient  in  quantity  to  cover  an 
area  of  100  square  miles  nearly  three  feet  in  depth.  Add 
to  this  the  outpourings  of  all  river  systems  and  you  have 
land  areas  made  each  year  that  equal  many  a  state  in  size. 
Whenever  a  river  outflows  its  banks  it  leaves  deposited 
on  the  submerged  territory  tons  and  tons  of  mud — and 
this  mud  is  valuable  soil — often  as  much  as  an  inch  in 
thickness. 

In  all  mountainous  regions  we  have  the  results  of  the 
wearing  power  of  water.  Huge  canons,  hundreds  of  feet 
deep — the  Colorado  Canon  is  6,000  feet  in  depth — mark 
the  track  of  the  leaps  and  pourings  of  water  from  the 
mountain  summits.  When  considered  in  the  aggregate, 
the  amount  of  soil  made  by  water-washing  of  our  thou- 


A  FIELD  OK  CORN  CARRIED  AWAY  BY  A  RAGING  FLOOD 


14  SOILS 

sands  of  hills  and  mountains  is  large.  Here  we  see  a 
mighty  force  and  a  powerful  agent  at  work  in  soil  making. 

The  sorting  power  of  water. — In  this  connection  we 
should  not  forget  the  work  of  water  as  it  moves  silt,  clay, 
pebbles,  and  stone  that  have  been  caught  in  its  channels 
and  then  moved  downward  toward  its  emptyings.  Silt 
and  clay  are  readily  held  in  suspension  even  if  the  water 
is  slow  going.  It  requires  rapid  currents  to  move  the 
heavier,  coarser  stones  and  pebbles.  As  these  are  carried 
along,  their  rough  edges  are  worn  off,  their  sides  are 
scraped  and  scratched,  and  many  particles  are  pulverized 
and  ground — all  contributing  to  soil  making.  TO  be  sure, 
this  soil  will  be  deposited  in  lower  regions,  yet  it  is  now 
soil,  the  same  as  that  in  the  cultivated  field  or  garden. 

The  role  that  ice  has  played. — In  the  northern  part  of 
the  United  States  we  have  a  class  of  soils  formed  by  giant 
masses  of  ice  called  glaciers,  that  moved  in  a  southward 
course  many,  many  centuries  ago.  Our  ideas  of  the  cause 
of  this  vast  body  of  moving  ice  are  not  clear  and  we  have 
only  the  evidence  that  once  it  was  so.  We  are  told  that  all 
the  northern  part  of  our  country  was  covered  with  a 
frozen  mass  of  ice  and  snow,  and  that  for  some  reason  this 
whole  mass  assumed  a  moving  character,  creeping  over 
plain  and  stream,  attacking  every  hill  top  and  mountain 
range,  and  without  further  ado,  conquering  them  as  if 
play  mounds  made  by  children's  hands  were  the  confront- 
ing power. 

As  this  huge  mass  moved  onward  in  its  course  it 
gathered  up  huge  rocks  that  once  were  free,  quarried 
other  giants  from  the  bosoms  of  the  mountains,  and 
played  with  them  as  it  went  along — rolling  them,  forcing 
them  together,  dragging  them,  rubbing  their  rough  faces 
until  they  were  smooth  (if  perchance  they  were  not  com- 
pletely ground  into  powder) — until  finally  the  rays  of  the 


THE    SOIL    MAKERS  15 

more  southern  sun  robbed  the  glacier  of  its  power  by 
melting  snow  and  ice,  which  freed,  rushed  on  into  river 
channels  to  be  lost  at  last  in  the  seas  of  the  East  and  the 
South. 

Soils  that  were  formed  by  this  moving  mass  of  ice  are 
known  as  drift  soils.  Such  soils  vary  greatly  in  composi- 
tion and  in  physical  nature.  The  area  formed  by  these 
glacier  or  drift  soils  is  altogether  lacking  in  uniformity, 
its  surface  is  broken  often  abrupt,  its  elevation  is  some- 
times considerable,  often  but  slight  and  its  producing 
power  is  modified  by  the  nature  of  the  deposits.  \Yhile 
it  is  true  that  these  soils  are  fairly  well  supplied  with 
necessary  mineral  constituents  essential  to  plant  growth 


JUST    AFTER    A    FLOOD 

they  are  often  deficient  in  organic  matter — the  source  of 
nitrogen  supply. 

Wind  made  soils. — While  the  wind  is  often  most  vigor- 
ous in  its  activitv,  it  is  a  reasonablv  slow  agent  in  soil 
making,  when  considered  by  its  daily  work  :  it  must  be 
studied  only  in  its  aggregate  in  respect  t<>  all  the  geolog- 


1 6  SOILS 

ical  ages  past.  You  will  find  the  wind  most  actively  at 
work  in  arid  regions  and  in  those  sections  where  sand 
and  dust  most  abound. 

A  single  experience  in  a  wind  storm  must  convince  you 
of  the  power  as  well  as  of  the  quantity  of  earth  that  is 
moved  throughout  the  world.  Dust  or  particles  of  the 
earth  are  in  the  air  at  all  times,  and  with  every  drop  of 
rain,  every  flake  of  snow,  and  every  movement  in  the  air 
these  particles  are  carried  elsewhere  than  to  the  spot  at 
which  they  were  originally  gathered  up.  You  will  find  in 
some  sections  of  our  country  huge  mounds  or  drifts  of 
sand  that  have  been  deposited  by  the  constant  and  more 
vigorous  action  of  the  wind. 


CHAPTER  II 
THE  SOILS  THAT  LIVING  THINGS  HAVE  MADE 

No  one  knows  just  when  the  first  plant  came  into  the 
world,  nor  the  kind :  it  was  too  far  back  in  the  dim  ages 
of  the  past ;  long  before  any  history  was  ever  written ; 
long  even  before  man  or  bird  or  beast  had  yet  appeared. 
We  may  be  sure,  however,  that  it  was  a  very  tiny  plant, 
so  small  that  the  little  roots  did  not  need  to  go  deep  into 
the  earth,  for  the  soil  was  just  beginning  its  growth.  We 
may  be  safe  even  in  saying  that  these  early  forms  of 
plants  had  only  the  rock  itself  for  their  homes,  and  on 
this  rock  they  established  themselves,  sending  their  small 
roots  just  the  tiniest  bit  into  the  crevices  and  into  the 
opened  particles  that  had  been  loosed  by  air  and  water, 
by  heat  and  cold. 

The  beginning  of  plant  growth. — But  doubtless  the 
earliest  forms  of  plant  life  were  aquatic  in  character:  they 
lived  in  the  water.  We  have  learned  of  the  solvent  power 
of  water.  Many  of  the  early  stagnant  pools  became  de- 
positories of  water  holding  in  solution  the  dissolved  min- 
eral materials  of  the  kind  forming  the  rock  structures. 
This  was  just  the  sort  of  food  that  these  pioneer  plants 
fancied,  for  they  and  all  of  their  kind  since  have  secured 
their  feeding  materials  in  this  manner.  As  years  and  cen- 
turies passed,  these  beginning  forms  of  plant  life  became 
stronger,  more  steady  and  some  became  quite  venture- 
some, clinging  to  the  rocks  that  held  fast  the  waters  of 
^the  pool ;  and  still  others,  flinging  the  experience  of  their 
parental  tribes  to  the  winds,  ascended  beyond  the  limits 


i8 


SOILS 


of  the  pond,  where  flowing  water  was  uncommon,  there 
to  become  adjusted  to  their  new  homes  and  to  their  new 
environment — at  last  to  be  stationary  in  their  rules  of 
living. 

It  is  likely  the  first  stationary  forms  found  lodgment  in 
the  crevices  of  the  rock,  where  perhaps  had  accumulated 
small  quantities  of  soil  that  had  been  made  long  before 
by  air  and  water  working  in  unison.  These  plants,  no 
doubt,  set  their  fibrous  roots  firmly  against  the  rock  sur- 
faces and  worked  in  their  own  way  in  securing  the 
coveted  elements  locked  in  the  storehouse  of  the  rocks. 

Just  as  the  ivy  of  to-day  creeps  over  stone  and  brick,  so 
did  these  first  forms  secure  their  food  substances  for  their 
life  and  growth.  But  with  this  difference:  those  were 
small,  insignificant  plants  and  of  low  order;  the  ivy  has 
culture,  good  breeding  and  pedigree  as  its  inheritance. 

Real  soil  was  made  and  left. — You  must  not  think 


SOIL   BUILDERS    AT   WORK 
Leaves,  roots  stems  and  grass  find  their  way  back  to  the  soil  and  enrich  it 


THE   SOILS   THAT   LIVING   THINGS    HAVE    MADE  19 

these  pioneer  plants  lived  forever.  They  grew  old  in 
time :  they  died.  But  at  their  death  they  left  a  valuable 
contribution  to  the  world.  They  left  the  riches  they  had 
accumulated :  the  elements  they  had  secured  from  the 
rocks,  the  substances  of  their  growth,  the  wee  beds  of 
soil  they  had  secured  from  their  forefathers,  from  the 
donations  of  the  wind,  and  from  the  gifts  of  air  and 
moisture. 

With  this  wealth  available,  there  was  no  longer  so 
great  a  struggle.  The  decayed  plant  life  in  the  crevices 
and  the  deteriorated  rock  afforded  better  feeding  grounds 
for  plants,  more  soil  for  support,  more  food  for  the  needs 
of  maintenance  and  of  growth.  Consequently,  this  better- 
ing of  material  necessities  afforded  increased  opportuni- 
ties for  growth.  A  higher  order  of  plants  might  now 
come.  So  the  small  struggling  plants,  through  a  long 
course  of  years,  changed,  now  gradually,  now  suddenly, 
into  stronger  varieties  and  species — onward  and  upward 
in  the  scale,  until  the  time  when  soil  was  present  in 
abundance,  when  the  higher  plants,  useful  for  food  and 
raiment,  might  be  secure  and  safe,  thoroughly  fitted  and 
abundantly  adapted  to  all  the  environmental  conditions 
needed  for  their  complete  development  and  growth. 

The  work  of  plants  in  soil  building. — It  follows,  then, 
that  every  kind  of  plant  is  a  soil  builder.  The  decay  of 
the  plant  at  once  produces  a  change  in  the  texture  of  the 
soil-making  material.  It  is  this  addition  of  the  organic 
matter — the  dead  plant — that  produces  this  constantly 
performed  miracle :  for  as  the  plant  decays  in  the  soil,  the 
particles  of  soil  in  contact  with  it  likewise  decay.  In 
other  words,  soil  rotting  is  soil  making.  Decay  of  any 
material  in  the  soil — organic  or  not — favors  and  induces 
the  breaking  down  of  the  various  complex  compounds 
forming  the  rock,  or  the  raw  or  the  untamed  soils. 


20 


SOILS 


The  addition  of  vegetable  matter  to  the  soil  has  assisted 
in  soil  making  from  the  time  that  plants  came  first  to  the 
planet;  it  has  increased  the  efficiency  of  all  other  agencies 
ever  since  the  early  days ;  and  at  the  very  present  time 
it  is  the  soil  builder's  best  friend, — its  decay  is  essential 
to  the  feeding  of  plants. 

The  roots  of  plants  have  done  their  work  in  soil  making. 
A  great  work  it  has  been  !  For  they  have  gone  down  deep 
into  the  soil  making  tiny  channels  for  air  and  water ; 
creeping  into  the  crevices  of  rocks,  they  have  continued 
their  growth  and  their  enlargement,  in  the  end,  breaking 

many  rocks  asunder,  dis- 
lodging others  from  their 
beds, — exposing  all  to  the 
disintegrating  influences 
of  air  and  moisture,  of 
heat  and  cold. 

And  roots  —  especially 
the  small,  fibrous  ones — 
have  a  solvent  action  as 
well.  The  juice  they 
exude  at  the  tips,  and  the 
moisture  with  which  they 
surround  themselves, 
work  a  change  in  the  soil 
particles  between  which 
they  grow  ;  limestone  or 
granite  or  feldspar  or  mica 
slowly  but  surely  suc- 
cumbs to  the  deteriorating 
action  of  root  life. 

Animals     the     modern 
soil  makers. — Soil  making 
ALFAIJA  ROOTS  GO  BEEF  INTO          w  a  5      considerably 

THE  SOH- 


THE   SOILS   THAT   LIVING   THINGS    HAVE    MADE  21 

advanced  when  animals  first  made  their  appearance.  But 
animals  of  all  sorts  have  been  potent  workers  in  soil 
making-,  the  higher  animals  largely  by  the  manurial  re- 
turn to  the  land  and  the  lower  forms  through  the  manurial 
effect,  but  also  in  directly  affecting  the  physical  conforma- 
tion of  earth. 

For  does  not  the  ant  seek  the  earth  for  its  home  and 
shelter,  to  construct  there  its  house  of  many  rooms,  with 
the  many  tunnels  connecting  the  dwellings  of  the  nation? 
What  are  these  homes  and  these  tunnels  but  underground 
traps  for  air  and  moisture — soil  builders? 

Besides  the  work  done  in  this  direction,  a  tremendous 
quantity  of  earth  is  annually  turned  over  and  exposed  to 
sunshine  and  rain,  to  heat  and  cold,  to  every  influence 
concerned  with  soil  making  and  soil  improvement. 

Every  sort  of  insect  or  animal  that  burrows  into  the 
soil,  that  opens  it,  or  tunnels  it,  or  loosens  it,  contributes 
not  a  little  to  soil  making:  the  ant  that  builds  there,  the 
mole  that  tunnels,  the  prairie  dog  or  hedgehog  that  bur- 
rows, the  earthworm  that  glides  and  crawls,  and  even 
eats  and  digests — all  are  man's  good  friends  in  having  had 
a  hand  in  preparing  the  surface  of  the  earth  for  the  luxuri- 
ant growth  of  vegetable  life. 

The  task  of  the  earthworm. — The  task  that  has  been 
the  earthworm's  is  a  most  important  one.  So  simple  are 
these  creatures,  so  faithful  are  they  in  their  labors,  so 
undemonstrative  in  their  duties,  we  scarcely  give  them  a 
thought  save  the  time  when  we  seek  them  for  bait  for  our 
fishing  traps.  But  the  earthworm  has  for  ages  been 
busy  opening  the  soil  to  air  and  water,  and  even  more :  it 
eats  the  raw  soil  underground  and  plows  its  way  upwards 
and  downwards,  casting  at  the  surface  the  unused  por- 
tions of  its  eatings.  In  doing  this,  the  muscular  gizzard 
of  the  worm  is  ever  busy  rubbing  and  grinding  stony 


22  SOILS 

particles,  mixing  with  these  the  organic  matter  taken  into 
the  body  system ;  with  these  go  the  secreted  slime  that 
has  a  dissolving  effect — useful  in  making  subsoil  and  un- 
tamed earthy  constituents  available  as  food  for  plants. 

As  proof  of  the  great  good  of  these  indefatigable  workers, 
we  have  the  evidence  of  Charles  Darwin,  who  after  long 
study  and  observation  declared  that  in  many  parts  of 
England  as  much  as  ten  tons  a  day  of  dry  earth  annually 
were  passed  through  the  bodies  of  these  common  worms 
of  the  field.  He  also  calculated  that  as  much  as  ten  inches 
of  the  upper  surface  of  the  soil  passed  through  their 
bodies  every  fifty  years.  You  can  gather  from  this  evi- 
dence what  worthy  workers  these  insignificant  animals 
have  been  in  preparing  the  earth  for  the  habitation  of 
man.  The  increased  production  of  all  products  of  the 
garden,  of  the  orchard,  and  of  the  field  has  been  due,  in 
not  a  small  measure,  to  these  underground  helpers  and  to 
these  wonderful  workers  in  soil  making. 


CHAPTER  III 
WHAT  WE  FIND  IN  SOILS 

Having  come  now  to  the  point  where  soils  are  made, 
we  may  with  all  propriety  consider  their  physical  nature, 
and  then  the  treasures  they  hold  fast  secured  in  their 
earthy  storehouses.  Not  that  soil  making  has  ended,  for 
this  process  goes  on  forever.  Only  this :  a  time  has  been 
reached  in  their  development  when,  with  the  aid  of  tillage 
tools,  the  most  productive  and  useful  of  plants  might  now 
be  grown  for  the  highest  profit  of  man. 

Let  us  go  out  into  the  field  itself.  Of  what  is  this  soil 
made?  was  at  one  time  the  first  inquiry.  Naturally,  it 
was  said  that  soils  were  derived  from  the  original  rock 
formations.  We  have  discussed  already  the  agencies  that 
have  made  our  soils.  No  single  one  is  responsible  for 
yours  or  mine.  That  we  possess  these  soils,  there 
is  no  doubt.  What  brought  them  to  us,  what 
placed  particular  soils  within  the  limits  of  our  possessions, 
what  influence  or  agency  made  them  rough  or 
level,  good  producing  or  poor  producing,  is  not 
the  problem  now. 

Four  kinds  of  soil  materials. — Our  present  inquiry  is 
in  reference  to  their  physical  conformation,  to  their  com- 
ponent parts,  to  the  minerals  composing  them.  These  ma- 
terials are :  sand,  silt,  clay,  and  humus  or  organic  matter. 
All  productive  soils  contain  these  materials,  but  not  in 
the  same  proportions.  There  is  a  wide  difference  in  the 
quantities  of  each  in  our  many  varieties  of  soil.  A  pre- 
ponderance of  one  of  these  materials  over  the  normal 


24  SOILS 

average  gives  rise  to  a  grade  distinguished  by  the  name  of 
the  material  there  present  in  excess  of  that  normal  aver- 
age. Hence,  we  get  names  that  stand  for  the  particular 
type,  as  sand  soils,  where  much  sand  is  present ;  clay 
soils,  where  much  clay  or  silt  is  present ;  and  humus  soils, 
where  much  organic  matter  is  present. 

Plants  show  preference  for  certain  soils. — And  there 
is  a  very  great  problem  unfolded  here,  for  the  most  of 
our  field  crops  do  not  do  equally  well  on  each  of  these  soil 
types.  Not  a  little  partiality  is  shown.  While  some  crops 
are  not  so  very  choice  of  their  soil  homes,  others  are  par- 


A  CROP  THAT  IS   HARD  ON  THE  SOIL 

Tobacco  is  usually  a  profitable  crop,  but  one  that  quickly  exhausts  the  soil 
of  its  fertility 


ticularly  mindful ;  in  fact,  some,  like  the  grape  or  tobacco 
plant,  permit  their  fancy  to  extend  even  as  far  as  the 
manufactured  product. 

Size  of  soil  particles. — It  is  due  to  the  size  of  the  parti- 
cles of  which  soils  are  made  that  we  have  our  various 
classes  of  sand  and  silt  and  clay — rock  descendants. 
When  these  particles  are  separated  mechanically,  we  find 


WHAT   WE   FIND   IN    SOILS  25 

that  they  can  be  classified  into  various  groups,  as  follows : 
fine  gravel,  coarse  sand,  medium  sand,  fine  sand, 
very  fine  sand,  silt,  fine  silt  and  clay.  To  these 
components  let  us  add  humus,  moisture,  the  sol- 
uble plant  food  elements,  and  we  shall  have  the 
soils  of  our  fields. 

The  size  of  these  particles  and  their  mechanical  ar- 
rangement have  much  to  do  in  way  of  influencing  soil 
productivity,  of  influencing  heat,  moisture,  and  plant 
food  factors,  of  governing  the  type  of  soil  that  each  crop 
fancies.  Thus  it  is  that  a  sand  soil — where  the  coarser 
particles  predominate — is  a  most  favorable  medium  when 
reenforced  with  humus,  in  which  certain  crops,  like  the 
vegetables,  are  most  at  home.  On  the  other  hand,  you 
will  find  the  opposite  extreme — where  the  finest  soil 
grains  predominate — most  favorable  to  wheat  and  grass. 
In  the  first  case — the  sand  type — water  is  freely  received 
and  as  freely  given  to  the  subsoil,  while  with  the  clay 
type  water  enters  with  difficulty  but  remains  longer  with 
its  host.  Between  these  extremes  we  find  all  sorts 
of  modified  types :  light  sand  loams,  sand  loams, 
loams,  clay  loams,  and  heavy  clay  loams.  We 
should  add,  also,  humus  to  these  combinations,  for 
it  must  be  understood  that  humus  is  positively  a 
necessity  for  remunerative  crops,  regardless  of  type 
or  of  ancestry. 

What  mechanical  analysis  shows. — To  illustrate  this 
point,  let  us  take  the  mechanical  analysis  of  barren  sand 
soils :  examples  of  the  sand  type  that  are  found  in  many 
sections  of  the  country — along  the  seashore,  in  the  sand 
hills  of  the  arid  West,  and  throughout  the  desert  regions. 

Using  the  plan  now  generally  approved  by  soil  investi- 
gators, we  get  the  following — the  average  of  11  barren 
sand  soils : 


SOILS 


BARREN  SAND  SOILS 
Material 

Organic    Matter 

Fine   Gravel,  2-1   mm 

Coarse  Sand,  1-5  mm 

Medium  Sand,  -S-.25  mm 

Fine  Sand,  .25-.!  mm 

Very  Fine  Sand,  .I-.O5  mm 

Silt,  .os-.oi  mm 

Fine  Silt,  .oi-.oos  mm 

Clay,  .OO5-.OOOI  mm 


Per  cent 

3-75 

1.40 

27.92 

31.64 

17.48 

12.66 

1.90 

0.86 

I. XI 


The  above  percentages  tell  their  own  story :  they  show 
the  classes  in  which  these  soil  particles  fall.  In  other 
words,  as  much  as  84  per  cent,  of  these  barren  soils  is  com- 
posed of  sand.  You  can  note  readily  the  small  percentage 
of  silt,  humus,  and  the  clay  components.  Were  plant 
food  to  be  added,  it  would  be  lost  as  quickly  as  the  water 
that  falls  as  rain. 

Soils  containing  so  high  a  per- 
centage of  sand  may  be  used  for  a 
limited  number  of  crops,  and  then 
only  when  reen  forced  with  or- 
ganic matter,  chemical  fertilizers, 
and  water  at  frequent  intervals 
(by  irrigation,  if  possible). 

What  special  soil  types  show.— 
To  develop  this  idea  further,  let 
us  take  the  analyses  of  a  few  soils 
where  certain  standard  crops  grow 
to  their  fullest  perfection,  not  for 
a  single  year,  but  for  a  time  of 

sufficient  duration  to  give  these  soils  the  right  to  the  name 
of  model  examples  of  their  type  or  class. 


SECTION   OF   THE   SOIL 

SHOWING   AIR   SPACES 

AND  PARTICLES 


WHAT  WE   FIND   IN   SOILS  27 

MECHANICAL    ANALYSES*    OF    TYPICAL    AGRICULTURAL    SOILS 


Material 

Corn 

Wheat 
Soil 

Grass 

Truck 

Barren 
Clay 

Bright 
To- 
bacco 

Heavy 
To- 
bacco 

Fine  Gravel,  2-1  mm  

o.oo 

o.oo 

O.OO 

o.oo 

o.oo 

3.09 

1.  12 

Coarse  Sand,  1-5  mm  

0.15 

0.23 

0.08 

0.30 

o.oo 

7.16 

1.82 

Medium    Sand,    .5-.  25 
mm  

Fine  Sand,   .25-.!   mm... 

16.25 

6.08 

o-53 

49-63 

1.27 

22.92 

0.39 

Very    Pine   Sand,  .i-.os 
mm  

26.81 

•16.82 

8.93 

16.76 

Fine  Silt,  .oi-.oos  mm.. 

15.60 

II.  21 

467 

'•93 

16.72 

8.24 

10.58 

Clay,  .005-.  oooi   mm  

10.10 

23.78 

5»-75 

2.80 

50.02 

4.80 

35-  »4 

What  does  this  table  show?  This — in  a  most  striking 
way :  that  wheat  soils,  handled  under  certain  conditions, 
possess  a  moderate  quantity  of  their  soil  grains  in  the  form 
of  very  fine  sand,  silt,  fine  silt,  and  clay ;  that  truck-crop 
soils  possess  but  a  small  quantity  of  the  finest  grains, 
their  characteristic  lying  in  the  great  quantity  of  fine  and 
very  fine  sand ;  that  the  bright  tobacco  soils  possess  a 
limited  quantity  of  the  finer  grains  and  most  of  the 
coarser  grains,  while  the  heavy  tobacco  soils  are  largely 
composed  of  the  finer  grains  with  a  much  lesser  quantity 
of  the  coarser  materials ;  that  the  grass  lands  possess  a 
very  great  quantity  of  clay  and  silt,  but  a  relatively  small 
amount  of  the  coarser  sand  grains. 

In  this  table  two  types  of  grass  lands  are  shown :  the 
productive  and  the  barren.  The  former  is  in  good  physi- 
cal condition,  that  is,  its  texture  is  in  good  form  :  the  soil 
grains  are  reasonably  well  arranged,  the  humus  content 


•  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture. 


28  SOILS 

(while  not  given  here)  is  probably  sufficient  to  insure  a 
healthy  influence  on  plant  growth.  The  barren  clay  here 
discussed  is  just  as  rich  in  plant  food,  but  the  soil  grains — 
largely  clay — are  so  arranged  that  the  soil  is  puddled;  it 
offers  extreme  resistance  to  rain  in  its  passage  through, 
so  that  when  plants  are  grown  in  this  type  of  soil  they 
quickly  use  the  water  about  their  roots — and  much  to 
their  hurt. 

Wise  farming  plans  will  be  in  the  line  of  drainage  by 
tiles,  thorough  aeration  by  good  tillage,  and  much  organic 
matter  supplied  through  stable  manure  and  the  legumes. 

How  soil  type  affects  plant  growth. — The  explana- 
tion of  this  is  here :  soils  of  a  sandy  nature  maintain  less 
moisture — only  5  to  7  per  cent. — than  those  of  a  clay 
nature,  and  they  are  more  open,  the  soil  grains  are  larger, 
and  the  water  resistance  small.  Hence,  they  dry  out 
more  quickly  after  rains  and  become  sufficiently  warm 
early  in  the  spring  and  soon  after  rains,  so  that  maturity 
is  hastened. 

Grass  lands,  on  the  other  hand,  because  of  the  large 
amount  of  small  grains — silt  and  clay, — maintain  from  18 
to  20  per  cent,  of  water,  or  nearly  four  times  that  of  the 
truck  lands.  Consequently,  these  soils  are  colder  by 
nature  and  therefore  less  active  in  maturing  their  crops. 
A  longer  time  is  needed,  and  this  is  favorable  to  the  heavy 
leaf  growth  of  grass, — a  thing  altogether  undesirable  for 
vegetable  crops. 

Wheat  lands,  since  the  season  of  growth  is  long,  are 
influenced  favorably  by  this  same  fact  of  size  and  ar- 
rangement of  the  grains. 

It  sometimes  happens  that  seasons  are  extremely  favor- 
able— sufficient  water,  warm  weather  in  early  fall  and 
spring,  and  good  covering  of  snow  for  winter  protection — 
and  wheat  on  the  very  stiff  lands  does  moderately  well, 


WHAT   WE   FIND   IN    SOILS 


UN  TWO  TVI'ES  UK  SOU. 

The  upper  picture  shows  well-thrown  apple  trees  in  ^ood  loam  soil. 
lower  picture  poor  apple  trees  in  li^ht  gravel  louin.    About 
40  years  is  the  a^e  of  the  trues  in  both  cases 


The 


30  SOILS 

provided  these  stiff  soils  have  been  well  aerated  by  tillage 
tools,  for  a  time  sufficient  to  put  the  soil  in  good  physical 
condition.  The  best  types  of  wheat  land  carry  less 
moisture — from  12  to  15  per  cent. — than  the  best  grass 
types. 

Many  secondary  types  are  found. — While  the  me- 
chanical analysis  of  soils  recognizes  but  eight  divisions, 
classified  from  the  size  of  soil  grains,  the  direct  applica- 
tion to  the  field  will  show  a  great  many  more  factors,  since 
other  considerations  are  in  effect  here,  as  the  humus 
content,  the  arrangement  of  soil  grains,  the  lay  of  the 
land,  the  ancestry  of  the  soil,  and  the  climatic  help  or 
hurt. 

The  force  of  this  is  shown  where  humus  is  added  to  a 
soil.  You  find  two  soils  alike  in  every  way.  Add  humus 
to  one — the  texture  is  changed,  the  water-holding  capac- 
ity is  increased,  the  productivity  is  made  greater.  You 
have  not  changed  the  size  of  the  soil  grains,  the  basal 
principle  of  type  remains  the  same. 

Another  example :  Take  two  sand  soils,  of  the  same 
basal  type  precisely,  the  components  in  both  instances 
being  the  same.  One  is  located  in  a  section  where  the 
rainfall  is  abundant  and  where  it  is  frequent.  The  other 
soil  in  a  section  where  just  the  opposite  extremes  exist.  It 
follows,  without  discussion,  that  other  conditions  being 
present — food,  warmth,  seed,  and  culture — the  moist  soil 
will  generally  produce  a  satisfactory  crop  and  the  dry 
soil  an  unremunerative  crop. 

Mechanical  analysis  a  help  and  guide. — We  receive 
assistance  when  we  know  soil  types,  for  we  have  a  most 
helpful  guide  here  at  hand.  But  we  have  no  posi- 
tive rule  to  follow  in  the  selection  of  crops  we  shall  grow. 
With  more  study,  with  more  investigation,  we  may  in 
future  years  predict  with  greater  safety  the  behavior  of 


WHAT   WE   FIND   IN    SOILS  31 

soil  under  cultivation  and  when  given  certain  crops  that 
seem  to  fancy  these  special  types  best. 
Bear  these  things  in  mind : 

1.  That   sand   areas,   when   properly   reenforced   with 
humus,  water,  and  plant  food,  are  peculiarly  adapted  to 
all  kinds  of  truck  crops. 

2.  That   early   truck   crops   are   more   safely   produced 
when  a  maximum  of  sand  and  a  minimum  quantity  of  clay 
prevail. 

3.  That  general  or  late  truck  crops  are  most  safely  pro-* 
duced  when  the  sand  type  carries  the  minimum  of  the 
coarser  and  the  maximum  of  the  finer  sand  grades. 


CROP    ADAPTATION 
An  apple  orchard  extending  from  loam  to  clay 

4.  That  fruit  growing  calls  for  considerable  clay  as  a 
part  of  the  sand  type. 

5.  That  the  best  corn  crops  are  produced  where  neither 
sand  nor  clay  predominates — the  silt  materials  producing 
the  best  results. 

6.  That  the  general  grain  crops  are  best  suited  when 
furnished  a  silt  type  of  soil. 


32  SOILS 

7.  That  wheat  is  most  at  home  in  soils  where  fine  silt 
and  clay  predominate. 

8.  That  grass   fancies  most  those  soils  that  carry   a 
high  percentage  of  clay. 

9.  That  potatoes  prefer  a  sand  type  where  medium  sand 
prevails,  where  silt  is  present  in  a  medium  quantity,  and 
where  clay  is  present  only  in  moderate  quantities. 

10.  That  with   these   special   types   must  be   included 
good  tillage,  humus,  air,  moisture,  and  plant  food. 

Soil  type  standards. — It  is  out  of  the  range  of  possi- 
bilities to  give  definite  standards  of  soil  type  for  specific 
crops :  too  many  conditions  prevail,  such  as  previous 
treatment  of  the  land,  climate,  plant  food,  humus  content, 
soil  drainage,  tillage  methods,  etc.  The  following  stand- 
ards are  suggested  in  the  light  of  known  conditions — in  a 
very  general  way : 

1.  Early  truck  and  potatoes : 

Not   more    than    15    per   cent,    of   water. 
As  much  as  60  per  cent,  of  medium  sand. 
Not  more  than  10  per   cent,  of  clay. 
About  20  per  cent,   of  silt. 

2.  Late  truck  and  fruit: 

Not  more   than  20  per  cent,   of  water. 

As  much  as  50  per  cent,  of  medium  and  fine  sand. 

Not  more  than  25  per  cent,   of  clay. 

From  10  to  30  per  cent,  of  silt. 

3.  Corn : 

An  average  of  20  per  cent,  of  water. 

Not  more  than  50  per  cent,  of  medium  fine  and  very  fine 

sand. 

Not  more  than  20  per  cent,  of  clay. 
From  15  to  25  per  cent,  of  silt. 


WHAT  WE   FIND   IN   SOILS  33 

4.  General  grain : 

About  20  per  cent,  of  water. 
From  40  to  60  per  cent,  of  silt. 
From  20  to  30  per  cent,  of  fine  sand. 
From  15  to  20  per  cent,  of  clay. 

5.  Wheat: 

From  15  to  20  per  cent,  of  water. 
From  20  to  30  per  cent,  of  clay. 
From  30  to  70  per  cent,  of  fine  silt. 
Not  more  than  15  per  cent,  of  sand. 

6.  Grass: 

From  20  to  25  per  cent,  of  water. 

From  40  to  70  per  cent,  of  clay. 

From  20  to  30  per  cent,  of  silt  and  fine  silt. 

Not  more  than  10  per  cent,  of  sand. 


CHAPTER  IV 
CONCERNING  THE  TEXTURE  OF  THE  SOIL 

Some  soils  are  worked  with  ease,  others  with  difficulty : 
plows  are  drawn  with  little  resistance  or  with  much, 
water  enters  freely  or  very  slowly,  plant  food  accumu- 
lates in  quantities  to  meet  the  needs  of  plants,  or  so  slowly 


A   CASE   OF   BAD   TEXTURE 
Even  though  much  culture  was  given,  the  soil  is  left  open,  lumpy  and  coarse 

that  they  are  starved,  seed  beds  are  prepared  with  much 
labor  or  with  a  minimum  of  effort — all  these  conditions 
are  governed  by  the  texture  of  the  soil.  If  you  would 
know  the  power  behind  these  activities,  you  need  to  seek 
no  other  than  the  soil  particles. 


CONCERNING  THE  TEXTURE  OF  THE   SOIL  3$ 

The  manner  of  their  arrangement,  their  size,  their  num- 
ber and  their  structure,  all  enter  into  a  clear  understand- 
ing of  the  texture  of  the  soil.  For  let  this  be  said  :  the  soil's 
physical  conformation,  in  so  far  as  it  influences  the  tem- 
perature of  the  soil,  the  supply  of  water,  and  the  circula- 
tion of  the  air,  has  more  to  do  with  successful  plant 
culture  than  its  chemical  composition.  There  are  many 
soils  that  are  abundantly  supplied  with  all  the  necessary 
chemical  constituents,  but,  being  in  such  a  poor  physical 
condition,  they  are  quite  unable  to  do  any  work  of  a 
serviceable  nature.  They  are  of  poor  texture. 

Soil  texture  may  be  modified. — The  texture  of  the  soil 
may,  of  course,  be  modified.  There  is  a  limit  to  the 
change  that  may  be  effected,  however,  and  time  is  re- 
quired, also,  if  this  is  to  be  done.  Our  clay  lands  still 
remain  clay  lands,  although  man  has  been  at  work  with 
them  for  thousands  of  years.  And  the  same  is  true  of 
sand  areas,  or  of  any  other  special  type  of  soil. 

But  they  may  be  modified.  Organic  matter,  when  added 
to  soils,  improves  them :  the  clays  open,  air  and  water 
more  freely  enter  and  do  good ;  the  barren  sands  more 
tightly  grasp  soluble  plant  food  and  water,  and  hold  them 
longer  for  growing  plants.  Organic  matter  warms  the 
heavy  clays  and  lessens  the  burning  of  the  sands,  and  it 
increases  available  plant  food  in  all. 

Since  it  is  not  within  the  ability  of  a  man  to  effect 
marked  changes  in  the  character  of  his  soil,  it  follows  that 
the  wisest  practice  will  be  to  select  those  crops  best  suited 
to  the  peculiarities  of  individual  localities.  Therefore,  we 
shall  not  attempt  to  grow  wheat,  for  instance,  in  soils  of 
light  texture — the  sand  types — nor  garden  vegetables  in 
the  clay  types. 

While,  on  the  other  hand,  we  do  grow  crops  in  all  parts 
of  the  country,  in  all  sorts  and  types  of  soil,  we  do  so  only 


30  SOILS 

with  average  success.  When  we  get  out  of  the  range  of 
our  so-called  common  soils — those  of  the  normal  aver- 
age— we  meet  with  failure,  usually,  unless  the  crop,  be- 
cause of  its  nature,  fancies  the  peculiarities  of  that  indi- 
vidual soil. 

Air  circulation. — A  soil  is  often  unproductive  because 
there  is  no  opportunity  for  the  circulation  of  the  air.  Air, 
you  know,  is  just  as  necessary  for  plants  in  the  soil  as  it 
is  needed  for  them  above  it.  When  you  have  a  soil  that 
is  puddled  readily,  air  is  excluded  and  plants  growing 
there  lose  their  strong  growing  powers,  turn  yellow,  and 
become  either  stunted  or  die. 

Water  circulation. — Water  is  an  important  component 
of  the  productive  soil.  Is  it  present  in  too  great  a  quan- 
tity? If  so,  the  plant  develops  slowly,  maybe  it  dies.  Is 
it  lacking  in  the  soil?  If  so,  the  plant  behaves  in  the  same 


TAKING    SOIL    SAMPLES 
A  common  way  of  getting  samples  for  moisture  determination 


CONCERNING   THE   TEXTURE   OF   THE   SOIL 


37 


way :  it  either  never  fructifies  or  does  so  in  a  feeble  way 
only.  In  the  first  case  air  was  excluded,  although  much 
moisture  was  present :  enough  to  dissolve  plant  food  and 
carry  it  through  the  plant.  In  the  second  place,  air  was 
free  to  enter,  but  so  little  moisture  was  present  the  plant 
food  was  dissolved  poorly  and  as  poorly  carried  into  the 
plant. 

The  pore-space  of  the  soil. — Both  the  air  content  and 
the  water  content  of  the  soil  are  governed  and  controlled 
by  the  pore-space  of  the  soil.  Since  the  soil  is  composed 
of  particles  of  sand,  silt,  clay,  and  humus,  and  since  these 
vary  in  size  and  in  numbers  as  well  as  in  arrangement, 
it  follows  that  open  spaces  will  naturally  exist  at  the  meet- 
ing points  of  these  many  particles.  It  were  impossible  for 
man  or  nature  so  to  arrange  these  particles  that  no  open 
spaces  might  exist.  Where  the  larger  grains  predomi- 
nate, large  open  spaces  naturally  result,  while  where  the 
clay  particles  —  the 


LARGE    PARTCLE. 
LARGE    PORE-SPACE 


SMALL    PARTICLE. 
SMALL    PORE-SPACE 


finest  grains  —  pre- 
dominate, the  open 
spaces  are  very  tiny, 
indeed. 

The  number  of 
pores  is  less  in  the  first 
than  in  the  second 
instance,  but,  on  the 
other  hand,  they  are 
much  larger. 

The  diagram  illustrates  the  idea.  The  pore  spaces  of 
sand  types  are  larger  in  size  but  smaller  in  number  than 
those  of  the  clay  types. 

The  water  films. — When  you  pour  water  over  a  hand- 
ful of  marbles,  you  note  that  it  runs  off  but  leaves  the 
marbles  wet.  In  other  words,  a  film  of  water,  surround- 


THE    PORE-SPACE    OF    THE    SOIL 


38  SOILS 

ing  each  marble,  has  been  left  behind.  So  it  is  in  the  soil. 
Each  particle — and  there  are  billions  in  every  cubic  inch — 
seizes  water  as  it  passes  down  into  the  soil  and  holds 
it  so  tight  that  only  the  highest  heat  in  the  drying  oven 
will  entirely  release  it.  Consequently,  every  field  soil  has 
its  many,  many  particles  wrapped  in  a  thin  sheet  or  film 
of  water,  and  even  the  dry  dust  of  the  road  holds  fast  to 
its  minimum  quantity  of  water. 

The  following  table  shows  the  water  content  of  com- 
mon field  soils  during  a  period  of  drought — six  weeks  in 
duration : 

Kind  of  Soil  5««t; 

Clay  road  dirt 2.64 

Sand — low  in  humus 8.34 

Clay — excellent   for   grass 19.61 

Silt  bottom — produces  eighty  bushels  of  corn 12.30 

These  same  soils  were  sampled  later  in  the  same  season, 
after  a  period  of  rain  of  several  days'  extension.  The 
water  content  is  shown  in  the  table  following : 

Per  cent. 

Kind  of  Soil  of  Water 

in  Wet  Soil 

*Clay  road  dirt 29.08 

Sand  22.53 

Clay  31.96 

The  passing  of  water  through  the  soil. — The  rate  that 
water  passes  through  the  soil  is  governed  by : — 

1.  The  pore-space  in  the  soil. 

2.  The  water  channels  formed  by  the  arrangement  of 
soil  particles. 

3.  The  amount  of  humus  in  the  soil. 

It  follows  that  great  differences  will  be  observed  in  the 
passage  of  water  through  soils — open  soils  permitting  it 

*The  road  dirt  was  dried  considerably  by  travel,  which  cut  and  opened 
it — a  process  of  aeration. 


CONCERNING   THE   TEXTURE   OF   THE    SOIL 


39 


to  flow  easily  and  rapidly,  tight-fitting  soils  with  slow- 
ness and  with  difficulty. 

In  proof  of  this,  note  the  flow  of  water  during  twelve 
hours  through  sand  and  clay  soils,  both  typical  samples 
of  the  field : 

Kind  of  Soil  Inches 

Sand — good  potato  soil 118.0 

Clay — good  meadow   soil 1.3 

Since  a  soil  composed  largely  of  sand  is  open,  but  little 
resistance  is  offered  to  the  flow  of  water,  for  a  tiny  stream 
is  soon  formed  which  remains  constant  so  long  as  the 
supply  remains  unchanged.  On  the  other  hand,  the  fine 
particles — these  compose  clay  soils — act  as  a  barrier  to 
water  as  it  goes  downward  to  such  an  extent  that  only  a 
very  small  quantity  ever  makes  its  way  through. 


A  SOIL  THAT  NKEDS   HUMUS 
To  get  humus  in  the  soil  is  to  make  the  first  step  in  soil  improvement 


4O  SOILS 

When  humus  is  present  in  the  soil  in  any  appreciable 
quantity,  it  increases  the  ease  of  flow — at  least,  its  ab- 
sorption— for  the  clay  types.  In  this  respect  it  is  manifest 
that  humus  is  a  valuable  contribution  to  both  these  soil 
types.  Without  humus,  both  sand  and  clay  are  at  a  dis- 
advantage, each  showing  the  loss  not  only  at  harvest- 
time  but  throughout  the  growing  periods,  regardless  of 
crop,  or  season,  or  section. 

Three  forms  in  which  •water  exists  in  the  soil. — Three 
kinds  of  water  are  present  in  soils :  gravitational  water 
capillary  water,  and  hygroscopic  water. 

Immediately  after  a  rain,  gravitational  water,  or  that 
which  will  move  under  the  influence  of  gravity,  is  present 
in  the  soil,  where  it  remains  until  it  works  its  way  down- 
ward into  the  subsoil  or  until  it  is  removed  by  nat- 


»•  '••A--  '• — V.-    'i V'\- ' •  .Vtot^fc--1  A, 


CIRCULATION   OF  WATER  IN   THE  SOIL 

By  gravity  water  KOCS  into  the  soil,  by  capillarity  it  circulates  through  the 

so'il  and  upwards,  and  unless  prevented  by  a  mulch,  it  goes 

out  into  the  air  by  evaporation 


CONCERNING   THE   TEXTURE   OF  THE   SOIL  4! 

ural  or  artificial  drains.  You  have  this  kind  of  water  in 
all  wet  places — wherever  water  accumulates  to  leak  or 
drain  away  only  with  the  slowest  activity,  or  else  not  to 
move  at  all. 

Capillary  water  represents  the  usual  supply  for  the 
growth  of  plants.  It  is  the  normal  average — the  visible 
water  content  of  the  soil.  It  is  the  remains  of  gravita- 
tional water — what  is  left  behind  in  the  upper  soil  and 
held  as  films  around  particles  and  in  the  finer  openings. 
It  is  the  water  that  is  attracted  and  held  fast  by  soil  parti- 
cles as  its  kind  passed  downward,  enticed  ever  onward  by 
the  force  of  gravitation. 

It  is  this  capillary  water  that  gathers  up  soluble  plant 
food  scattered  all  about  in  the  soil,  that  breaks  into  closed 
storehouses  where  plant  food  is  held,  releases  it  that  it 
may  be  united  with  the  rest,  so  that  all  may  be  delivered 
within  easy  reach  of  the  fibrous  roots  for  plants  to  use  for 
food  and  growth. 

Capillary  water  is  found  in  interspaces  of  the  soil. 
While  its  natural  direction  would  be  downward  because 
of  gravitation,  it  really  moves  in  the  opposite  direction, 
since  the  pulling  force  of  the  drier  particles  is  greater 
upward.  Hence,  capillary  water  constantly  moves  from 
moist  regions  into  others  less  moist.  The  surface  of  the 
land,  being  warmed  by  the  sun  and  dried  by  the  air,  soon 
loses  its  moisture  through  evaporation,  calls  to  the  lower 
depths  for  more,  and  in  this  way  replenishes  its  normal 
supply. 

By  this  principle,  soluble  plant  food  that  either  existed 
in  the  subsoil  or  that  was  carried  there  by  gravitational 
water,  is  now  brought  upward  into  the  surface  areas, 
where  grow  plants'  feeding  roots,  now  to  be  used  when 
needed. 

The  minimum  moisture  content  of  the  soil  is  known  as 


SOILS 


hygroscopic  water.  Soil  particles  of  cultivated  lands 
allow  gravitational  water  to  escape  without  resistance. 
They  permit  capillary  water  to  climb  out  of  their  reach, 
even  to  be  evaporated  into  the  atmosphere,  with  some 
reluctance,  it  is  true,  but  withal,  its  freedom  to  go  is 
granted.  But  the  last  bit  of  film  water — the  tiny  covering 
enclosing  each  wee  particle — is  held  fast — so  fast  that  no 
force  of  gravity,  no  drying  demand  of  warmth  or  heat  or 
sun  is  able  to  snatch  away  these  many  little  shrouds  in 
their  entiretv. 


WATER- HOLDING    POWER    OF   SOILS 
WHEN    100    POUNDS    OF    SOIL  ARE   USED 


SOIL 


V/ATER 


SAND 
CLAY 
HUMUS  I 


-221bs. 
551bs. 

Il431bs. 


VEGETABLE   MATTER  AIDS   THE   SOIL  IN    HOLDING   WATER 

Water-holding  capacity. — When  the  pore-spaces  of 
the  soil  are  filled  with  water,  the  soil  is  saturated.  Every 
bit  of  air  has  been  driven  out  and  for  the  time  being  the 
soil  is  dead.  In  time — if  the  soil  has  been  properly  han- 
dled— the  excess  water  will  be  removed  by  gravitation 
and  by  capillarity,  the  soil  then  will  be  in  fit  condition  to 
contribute  its  share  to  crop  production ;  for  air,  you 
know,  if  good  root  development  is  to  be  had,  is  as  neces- 
sary as  water. 

The  amount  of  water  that  a  soil  holds  will  depend  upon 
several  things,  the  following  being  of  first  importance : 

i.  The  nature  or  type  of  the  soil : 

Sand  soils  receive  and  give  off  water  freely,  clays  take 
and  give  off  slowly. 


CONCERNING   THE   TEXTURE   OF   THE   SOIL  43 

2.  The  nature  of  the  subsoil : 

Sand  and  clay  subsoils  act  similarly  with  surface  soils : 
open  subsoils  open  the  top  reservoir,  stiff  ones  hold  the 
water  fast. 

3.  The  amount  of  humus  in  surface  soils  : 

Where  no  humus  is  present,  the  water  content  is  less, 
since  the  air  spaces  are  less  in  number  and  less  able  to 
hold.  Much  humus  in  the  soil  enlarges  the  water-holding 
capacity. 

4.  The  looseness  of  the  soil : 

A  loose,  open  soil,  where  humus  components  are  pres- 
ent, increases  the  absorption  power,  and  may  increase  the 
water-holding  power. 

5.  The  physical  condition  of  the  soil : 

Where  clods  are  present,  the  particles  are  tightly 
pressed  together,  allowing  neither  air  nor  water  to  enter. 
Open  these  clods,  and  you  increase  both  the  size  and  the 


TREES  IN  THE  PRAIRIE  REGION 
Summer  culture  saves  the  moisture  and  the  trees  grow 

number.  A  soil  well  supplied  with  humus,  and  when  fine 
and  mellow  and  in  good  high  tilth,  holds  its  maximum 
quantity  of  available  water. 

6.  The  method  of  surface  treatment : 

Since  water  escapes  rapidly  through  evaporation,  it  fol- 
lows that  any  method  of  cultivation  that  reduces  this  loss 
will  enable  the  soil  to  hold  its  water  longer.  Any  treat- 
ment that  fails  in  doing  this  assists  in  making  the  loss 
constantly  greater. 


CHAPTER  V 


CARBON 


HOW  PLANTS  FEED 

Learned  men  have  been  searching  for  many  centuries 
that  they  might  discover  the  elements  which  form  the 
world. 

Up    to    the    present    time    between    seventy-five    and 

eighty  have  been  found 
in  the  soil,  the  rock,  and 
the  air;  butstrangeasit 
may  seem,  only  fifteen 
of  this  number  are 
found  in  plants  and  ani- 
mals, ten  of  which  arc 
absolutely  essential  to 
the  growth  of  plants. 

Where  plants  get 
their  food. — There  are 
just  two  sources  of 
plant  food :  the  soil  and 
the  air.  The  young 
plant  beginning  its  life 
obtains  its  first  food 
from  the  seed.  With 
this  food  it  starts  its 
roots  into  the  soil  and 
its  stems  and  leaves  in- 
to the  air.  Henceforth 
both  roots  and  leaves 
will  gather  food  for 
further  and  future 
growth. 


WATER  AND 
MINERAL 
SUBSTANCES 


'NITRATES  * 
HOW  PLANT  FOOD  GETS  INTO  THE  SOIL 

Carbon  is  taken  in  through  the  stomata,  or 
mouths,  on  the  underside  of  the  leaf.  All 
the  mineral  elements  and  the  nitrates  are 
in  solution  in  the  water  and  pass  in  this 
way  into  the  plant  through  the  root  hairs  at 
the  tip  end  of  the  growing  root.  Laterthis 
same  water  passes  out  of  the  leaves  as 
vapor 


HOW    PLANTS   FEED  45 

The  leaves  take  from  the  air  carbon  and  oxygen. 

The  roots  take  from  the  soil,  water  (oxygen  and  hydro- 
gen), potassium  (potash),  phosphorus  (phosphates),  ni- 
trogen (nitrates),  iron,  sulphur,  calcium  and  magnesium, 
as  essential  elements  of  plant  growth.  While  manganese 
is  present  in  small  quantities  in  nearly  all  plants,  it  is  not 
an  essential  element,  nor  are  sodium,  silicon,  aluminum, 
boron,  fluorine,  barium,  lithium,  and  chlorine. 

Composition  of  plants. — When  all  sorts  of  plants  are 
mixed  together  and  dried  (all  moisture  driven  off  by 
heat),  the  following  proportion  of  elements  results: 


Element  Per  cent.  Where  the  plant  got  it 

Carbon    45.0  Air 

Oxygen   42.0  Air  and  water 

Hydrogen    6.5  Water 

Nitrogen  1.5  Soil,  air  and  bacteria 

Ash  or  mineral  compounds 5.0  Soil 


Total 100. o 

From  this  it  will  be  seen  that  the  greater  part  of  all 
plant  food  comes  from  the  air  and  water — only  a  small 
quantity  from  the  soil. 

Carbon  is  secured  by  the  leaves. — If  you  partly  burn 
a  match,  you  observe  it  has  become  black.  You  now  see 
carbon — this  black  substance.  Every  part  of  a  plant  con- 
tains carbon.  Do  you  wonder  now  why  this  element  is 
so  important?  And  do  you  know  that  all  carbon  in  plants 
comes  from  the  air?  The  leaves  of  the  plants  gather  it, 
not  a  particle  is  taken  by  the  roots.  Here  is  a  great  ser- 
vice that  leaves  perform  :  they  use  the  carbon  of  the  air 
for  making  starch  and  sugar.  Without  leaves  or  without 
carbon,  we  would  have  no  starch  or  sugar  in  the  world 
in  any  form.  We  have  two  interesting  things  about  this 


46 


SOILS 


manufacture :  none  but  green  plants,  and  by  them  only 
in  the  sunlight,  can  carbon  be  used  or  starch  or  sugar 
manufactured  by  the  leaves.  Thus  we  find  that  sunlight 


CARBONIC  ACID 


CARBONIC  ACID 


THE  UNDERSIDE  OF  A  LEAF  WITH   A   MICROSCOPE 
a.  Mouths  or  stomata;   b.  Cells  of  the  leaf 


is  power  or  energy  and  the  green  coloring  of  leaves  the 
machine  that  combine  in  the  performance  of  this  work. 

Soil-food  is  secured  by  roots. — Before  soil-food  can 
be  used  by  any  plant  it  first  must  be  put  in  soluble  form 
by  the  water  of  the  soil.  It  then  reaches  the  plant  by 
means  of  root  hairs — the  small,  slender,  delicate  branches 
of  the  roots.  These  root  hairs  are  the  feeding  organs,  and 


HOW   PLANTS   FEED 


'     x  f.         \ 


so  tiny  are  they  as  many  as  38,200  have  been  counted  on  a 
single  inch. 

The  large,  coarse  roots  with  which  you  are  so  familiar 
have  nothing  to  do  with  absorbing  plant  food  from  the 
soil.  They  serve  merely  to  conduct  the 
sap  and  nourishment  from  the  root  hairs 
to  the  body  of  the  plant.  Since  the  root 
hairs  are  formed  only  very  near  the  tips  of 
the  finest  roots,  it  follows  that  plant  feed- 
ing takes  place  some  distance  from  the 
spot  out  of  which  the  plant  itself  grows. 
In  applying  manure  or  other  fertilizer  to 
trees  and  plants,  it  is  well  to  remember 
this  fact :  get  the  food  as  near  the  feeding 
roots  as  possible,  rather  than  near  the 
trunk  or  stem. 

Roots  take  nourishment  by  osmosis. — 
It  matters  not  how  closely  you  examine 
root  hairs,  you  will  find  no  pores  or  holes 
in  them.  It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  no 
solid  particles  can  find  their  way  into  the 
root  hairs:  food  in  solution,  only,  can  pass 
into  the  root.  The  law  governing  this 
principle  is  known  as  osmosis.  You  can 
readily  understand  the  action  of  this  law 
by  a  simple  experiment:  Take  a  glass  tube 
or  small  lamp  chimney  and  tightly  fasten 
over  one  end  a  bladder  or  a  piece  cut  from 
one.  After  the  bladder  has  been  securely 
fastened,  pour  into  the  tube  or  lamp  chim- 
ney a  small  quantity  of  molasses;  now  place  this  in  a 
jar  of  water,  so  held  that  the  level  of  the  molasses  inside 
and  the  water  outside  will  be  the  same.  Fasten  the  tube 
in  this  position  and  observe  from  time  to  time  for  three 


OATS 

These  roots  do 
not  g;o  very 
deep  into  the 
soil 


48 


SOILS 


CROSS-SECTION   OF   ROOT    HAIR 


or  four  hours.  You  will  note  shortly  after  the  apparatus 
has  been  so  placed  that  the  molasses  in  its  receptacle  is 
gradually  rising  above  the  level  of  the  water  outside.  If 

you  use  a  slender  tube,  it  may 
overflow  even  at  the  top. 

The  increase  in  the  contents 
of  the  tube  or  lamp  chimney  is 
due  to  the  entrance  of  water 
from  the  outside ;  for  the 
water  has  passed  through  the 
thin  bladder,  or  membrane, 
and  has  come  to  occupy  space 
in  the  tube.  While  the  molas- 
ses seeks  passage  through  the 

membrane  to  the  water  below,  it  does  so  very  slowly,  so 
slowly  it  is  scarcely  noticeable.  The  in- 
teresting behavior  is  this :  There  are  no 
holes  or  pores  in  the  membrane,  but  still 
there  is  a  free  passage  of  liquids  in  both 
directions,  although  the  more  heavily  laden 
solution  must  move  more  slowly. 

Now,  root  hairs  behave  in  the  manner 
here  described.  Soluble  nourishment — 
needed  plant  food — passes  from  the  outside 
to  the  inside  through  the  delicate  membrane 
of  the  root  hair.  Thus  does  food  enter  the 
plant  root.  From  the  root  hairs,  foods  are 
carried  into  the  root.  Thus  do  we  say  a 
root  takes  nourishment  by  osmosis. 

The  sap   current. — Growing   plants   are 
ever  busy  gathering  food,  the  root  hairs 
securing  nourishment  from  the  soil  and  the 
leaves  carbon  from  the  air.    As  soon  as  the  carbon  is  man- 
ufactured into  starch  and  sugar,  these  manufactured  foods 


ROOT  HAIRS 


HOW    PLANTS    FEED 


49 


CARBONIC    ACID 


WA 


must  be  carried  to  all  parts  of  the  plant.  Likewise,  the 
substances  brought  in  from  the  roots  must  be  taken  up- 
wards into  the  leaves.  To  perform  the  duties  two  cur- 
rents are  required :  one  to  carry  the  product  secured  by 
leaves  downward,  that 
needed  food  may  go  to 
the  roots ;  and  another 
to  carry  the  root  acqui- 
sitions upward,  that 
leaves  may  not  be  neg- 
lected. 

This  explanation  dis- 
proves the  old  notion 
that  sap  goes  up  in  the 
spring  and  down  in  the 
autumn.  This  sap  wa- 
ter, when  taken  up  by 
the  root  hairs,  is  in  a 
very  dilute  state.  The 
minerals  and  nitrates 
dissolved  therein  are 
carried  up  into  the 
leaves,  but  left  behind 
when  the  water  is  evap- 
orated into  the  air. 

When  the  summers 
are  dry  and  hot  and 
there  is  but  little  water 
in  the  soil,  the  leaves 

shrink  up.  This  is  simply  a  way  they  have  of  keeping 
the  water  from  passing  too  rapidly  off  into  the  air.  This 
withering  is  a  wise  provision  after  all,  for  when  the  plant 
closes  the  mouths  or  pores  of  the  leaves,  evaporation  is 
checked  until  the  roots  can  secure  a  supply  from  the  soil 


WATER  AND 
MINERALS 


HOW  THE  SAP  CURRENT   MOVES 


50  SOILS 

below.  Water  is,  therefore,  necessary,  that  soil-food  may 
be  carried  in  and  through  the  plant,  and  even  to  carry  the 
leaf-manufactured  products  back  to  the  roots. 

The  upward  current  from  the  roots  passes  through  the 
woody  portion  of  the  trunk,  while  the  downward  current 
from  the  leaves  passes  beneath  the  bark. 

How  the  plant  uses  its  food. — A  plant  is  a  body  of 
cells — millions  of  them,  just  like  your  body.  These  cells 
increase  in  number  as  the  plant  enlarges,  grows.  Every 
cell  is  an  enclosed  sac,  holding  within  it  the  juice  and 
other  substances  necessary  for  its  enlargement  and 
growth.  The  walls  of  these  cells  are  made  of  cellulose — a 
carbon  compound,  produced  from  the  carbon  that  enters 
the  leaves  from  the  air.  When  the  cell  is  first  made  the 
cell  wall  is  thin  and  tender,  just  as  we  find  it  in  green 
and  young  plants,  but  as  it  matures  the  wall  becomes 
hard  and  woody,  and  less  appetizing  and  digestible. 

These  plant  cells  are  responsible  for  the  use  of  the  food 
obtained  from  the  air  and  from  the  soil,  for  the  building 
of  plant  tissue  and  for  the  formation  of  the  compounds  of 
the  plant  or  the  fruit  of  the  plant. 

Every  live,  active  cell  contains  protoplasm,  the  real  life 
of  the  cell.  When  the  soluble  soil  materials — we  call 
these  plant  food — have  been  carried  up  through  the  long 
channels  of  cells  and  when  they  reach  the  leaves,  they 
come  in  contact  with  starch  grains  and  carbonic  acid. 
Here  these  various  compounds  are  decomposed  through 
the  action  of  heat,  and  sunlight,  and  protoplasm,  and 
chlorophyl :  starch  is  made  or  changed  into  sugar,  or 
maybe  starch  or  some  starch  derivative  is  united  with  the 
nitrates  and  sulphur  in  some  way  so  that  protein  results, 
or  maybe  oil  or  cellulose  or  crude  fiber  is  manufactured — 
each  is  made  just  as  the  plant  decrees. 

The  meaning  of  plant-building. — Before  these  elements 


HOW    PLANTS   FEED  51 

were  enticed  into  the  plant  they  were  of  no  value  to  man. 
He  could  not  use  them  for  food  or  for  clothing ;  he  could 
not  use  them  for  fuel  to  cook  his  food  or  to  keep  his  body 
warm ;  nor  could  he  call  upon  them  for  any  special  use. 

But  behold  the  change  when  the  plant  takes  them  up ! 

Without  value  in  the  soil  and  air  before,  now  the  plant 
calls  them  into  use :  tissue  is  built,  which  soon  becomes 
food  for  man  and  beast;  clothing  for  shivering  or  blis- 
tered skins  is  now  provided ;  shelter  for  the  strong  and 
weak  is  now  possible ;  fire  for  a  thousand  uses  is  now 
ablaze ;  energy  for  the  work  of  the  world  is  now  avail- 
able! 


CHAPTER  VI 
THE  ELEMENTS  THAT  PLANTS  USE 

We  have  considered  heretofore  the  physical  side  of 
soils:  the  components  that  make  them,  the  size,  the  ar- 
rangement, and  the  behavior  of  the  soil  particles,  the 
work  of  air  and  water — how  each  is  influenced  by  the 
texture  of  the  soil. 

Our  knowledge  of  these  things  has  been  given  to  us 
largely  by  the  soil  physicist,  who,  either  in  the  field  or  in 
his  laboratory,  has  sought  to  discover  those  laws  that  are 
concerned  with  the  mechanical  conformation.  Now  we 
are  ready  to  learn  of  some  of  the  findings  of  the  chemist, 
for  in  his  laboratory  are  revealed  many  hidden  secrets,  but 
none  of  more  interest  than  those  having  to  do  with  soils 
and  plants. 

A  word  about  the  element  itself. — We  must  not  mis- 
understand the  nature  of  an  element:  it  is  a  single  thing 
altogether,  standing  by  itself  and  alone.  Water  is  not  an 
element,  because  it  is  composed  of  two  elements — oxygen 
and  hydrogen.  Table  salt  is  not  an  element,  for  sodium 
and  chlorine — two  elements  themselves — have  united  and 
salt  has  resulted.  Wheat  is  not  an  element,  nor  is  the  air 
we  breathe ;  neither  are  the  clothes  we  wear,  the  coal  we 
burn,  the  food  we  eat: — these  are  compound  substances, 
made  of  two  or  more  single  elements. 

An  element  from  its  very  nature  is  indestructible.  You 
can  destroy  plants,  and  animals,  and  wooden  things, — all 
made  of  many  elements, — but  you  cannot  destroy  the  ele- 
ments that  compose  them.  When  plants  or  animals  die, 
when  substances  decay  and  disintegrate,  or  otherwise  are 


THE  ELEMENTS  THAT  PLANTS  USE  53 

destroyed,  the  elements  that  originally  formed  these  sub- 
stances enter  into  new  combinations  and  go  back  either 
to  the  soil  or  to  the  air  (from  where  they  came),  there  to 
remain  until  called  into  service  again  by  plants  or  animals 
for  some  service  of  the  world. 

Elements  not  in  a  pure  state  in  the  soil. — Do  not  imag- 
ine that  the  elements  essential  to  plants  are  to  be  found 
in  a  pure  state  in  the  soil,  for  they  are  not.  You  will 
find  only  one  or  two  in  the  entire  list  of  chemical  ele- 
ments that  are  to  be  found  in  a  pure  state  anywhere  in 
nature's  storehouses.  Of  course,  in  the  chemist's  labora- 
tory you  will  be  able  to  find  these,  for  it  is  his  work  to 
separate  the  elements  and  to  acquaint  himself  with  their 
characters  that  he  may  recognize  them  readily  when  freed 
by  him  or  held  slave  by  some  organized  force,  like  a  plant 
or  animal. 

These  elements  do  not  behave  in  just  the  same  manner: 
some  are  poisonous  to  us,  others  are  food ;  some  may  be 
seen  and  felt  and  tasted,  while  others  we  can  neither  see 
nor  feel  nor  taste ;  some  are  abundant,  present  in  every 
place ;  others  are  so  rare  we  may  never  see  them  at  all. 

Plants  use  elements  combined  with  others. — When  con- 
sidering the  elements  that  compose  soils  and  plants  and 
animals,  remember,  therefore,  that  they  are  not  in  a  free 
and  pure  state  such  as  the  chemist  in  his  laboratory  may 
force  them  to  go ;  they  are  combined  always  with  other 
elements,  producing  by  their  combination  the  innumer- 
able products  of  the  world.  While  we  speak  of  elements 
of  plant  food,  we  should  remember  that  such  are  given  to 
the  plant  out  of  products  which  possess  these  elements, 
but  in  combination  with  other  kinds.  To  understand  more 
clearly  these  food  substances  which  plants  so  greatly 
fancy  and  need,  a  brief  discussion  of  each  will  follow : 

Oxygen:   our   most   important   element. — With   every 


54  »    SOILS 

breath  of  fresh  air,  you  take  oxygen  into  your  lungs.  So 
oxygen,  therefore,  must  be  a  common  element.  And  so  it 
is — both  common  and  abundant — more  so  than  any  other 
element  in  the  world.  Just  think  of  this:  one-fifth  of  the 
atmosphere,  three-sevenths  of  all  the  plants,  one-half  of 
the  entire  solid  crust  of  the  globe,  and  eight-ninths  of  all 
the  water  are  formed  of  oxygen,  and  thousands  and  thou- 
sands of  other  substances  besides. 

Oxygen  is  a  gas — tasteless,  colorless,  and  odorless. 
You  neither  can  see  nor  feel  it,  nor  can  you  taste  or  smell 
it.  It  is  slightly  heavier  than  air,  and  is  moderately  active 
at  ordinary  temperature,  but  at  higher  temperatures  it  is 
one  of  the  most  violent  and  powerful  chemical  agents 
known. 

Oxygen  possesses  strong  chemical  affinity  for  other 
elementary  substances :  with  most  of  these  it  is  found  in 
combination — fluorine  excepted.  These  combinations  are 
made  with  great  intensity.  This  gas  has  power  of  sup- 
porting combustion  in  an  eminent  degree. 

Here  are  just  a  few  of  its  combinations: 

1.  With  hydrogen  it  forms  water — just  common  water. 

2.  With  nitrogen  (mixed  but  not  combined)  it  forms 
air. 

3.  With  silicon  it  forms  sand. 

4.  With  calcium   and  carbon  it  forms  limestone   and 
marble. 

5.  With  aluminum,  hydrogen,  and  silicon  it  forms  mar- 
ble and  all  the  varieties  of  clay. 

Besides  these  inorganic  combinations,  oxygen  is  found 
in  all  the  tissues  and  fluids  of  plant  and  animal  life — fat, 
starch,  protein,  fiber,  etc. — none  of  which  can  support 
existence  independently  of  this  element. 

Hydrogen :  the  lightest  of  known  substances.  —  The 
lightest  of  all  known  substances  is  hydrogen :  a  gas 


THE  ELEMENTS  THAT  PLANTS  USE  55 

I4^2times  lighter  than  air  (hence  its  use  in  filling  bal- 
loons) and  over  11,000  times  lighter  than  water. 

Hydrogen  is  tasteless,  odorless,  and  colorless;  and 
incapable  of  supporting  life,  although  not  poisonous.  It 
is  combustible — combines  with  oxygen  and  develops  light 
and  heat.  It  is  very  abundant,  being  an  ingredient  of 
many  organic  and  inorganic  substances. 

A  few  of  its  combinations  are : 

1.  With  oxygen  it  forms  water. 

2.  With  chlorine  it  forms  hydrochloric  acid. 

3.  With  sulphur  and  oxygen  it  forms  sulphuric  acid. 

4.  With  nitrogen  and  oxygen  it  forms  nitric  acid. 
We  also  find  hydrogen  in  organic  substances — protein, 

starch,  fat,  fiber,  etc. 

Nitrogen:  the  most  costly  of  purchased  plant  foods. — 
In  appearance  nitrogen  in  no  way  differs  from  the  atmos- 
pheric air,  of  which  it  is  the  main'  ingredient  (four-fifths 
of  the  air  is  nitrogen).  Hence  we  know  it  to  be  without 
color,  taste,  or  odor.  In  weight  it  is  somewhat  lighter 
than  atmospheric  air.  It  may  be  described  as  negative 
in  its  properties,  for  it  is  not  combustible,  nor  is  it  a 
supporter  of  combustion.  It  somewhat  dissolves  in 


THE  GREATER   PART  OF  THIS    WONDERFUL  CROP  COMES    FROM    THE   AIR 

water,  and  its  combining  powers  are  very  slight.  While 
nitrogen  is  present  in  the  air  in  large  amounts  it  lends 
itself  to  the  use  of  plants  in  exceptional  cases,  only,  the 


56  SOILS 

legumes  being  the  sole  recipients  of  its  favor,  and  then 
only  through  the  medium  of  bacteria. 

While  it  is  impossible  to  give  relative  values  to  essen- 
tial elements  of  plants  and  animals,  if  it  were  not  impos- 
sible, nitrogen,  undoubtedly,  would  be  given  first  rank 
among  all  life-producing  agencies. 

Besides  its  occurrence  in  animal  and  vegetable  forms, 
nitrogen  frequently  is  combined  as  follows : 

1.  With  potassium  and  oxygen,  forming  the  potassium 
salt  known  as  saltpeter. 

2.  With  sodium  and  oxygen,  forming  the  sodium  salt 
known  as  Chili  saltpeter. 

3.  With  hydrogen,  forming  ammonia. 

Carbon:  the  basic  element  of  heat  and  energy. — This 
element  is  diffused  throughout  the  world.  It  is  most 
abundant  in  combined  forms,  the  exceptions  being:  min- 
eral graphite  or  black  lead  and  the  diamond — pure  crystal- 
lized carbon. 

We  are  never  interested  in  carbon  as  a  plant  food,  since 
this  element  enters  from  the  air  into  the  leaves.  In  plant 
and  animal  building,  carbon  is  found  in  every  constituent, 
hence  it  becomes  a  central  element  in  organic  processes. 

In  inorganic  forms,  among  its  many  combinations  may 
be  mentioned: 

1.  With  oxygen  it  forms  the  carbonic  acid  gas  of  the 
atmosphere,  the  natural  waters,  and  the  limestones. 

2.  With  oxygen  and  hydrogen  it  forms  coal. 

3.  With  hydrogen  it  forms  coal-oil  or  petroleum. 

All  of  these  substances  are  associated  with  combus- 
tion, showing  that  plant  building  is  an  effort  on  nature's 
part  for  storing  heat  and  energy  for  future  needs  of  the 
world. 

Silicon:  the  sand  maker. — Silicon  is  never  found  in 
nature  except  in  combination.  Its  combination  with  oxy- 


THE  ELEMENTS  THAT  PLANTS  USE  57 

gen  is  the  most  abundant  solid  constituent  of  our  globe, 
and  in  less  proportion  is  an  equal  necessary  ingredient 
of  the  Vegetable  Kingdom,  while  in  the  Animal  Kingdom 
it  occurs  usually  in  mere  traces.  As  sand — just  common 
sand — it  is  of  the  utmost  value  in  making  the  soil  a  pleas- 
ant and  comfortable  home  for  plants. 

Sulphur:  the  match  maker. — This  element,  while  es- 
sential to  plant  growth,  is  used  only  slightly  as  a  con- 
stituent of  the  albuminous  bodies.  At  any  ordinary  tem- 
perature it  exists  in  nature  as  a  solid,  brittle  and  tasteless 
body  of  a  characteristic  yellow  color,  and  insoluble  in 
water. 

Sulphur  is  present  in  the  soil  sufficiently  to  supply  all 
the  needs  required  of  it  by  plants.  It  is  extensively  em- 
ployed in  the  arts  and  manufactures,  gunpowder  and 
sulphur  matches  being  common  forms  of  its  use. 

Phosphorus :  our  most  inflammable  element. — So  readi- 
ly does  phosphorus  burn,  even  at  ordinary  temperature, 
it  is  necessary  to  keep  it  under  water  for  preservation. 
Because  of  its  inflammable  nature,  it  is  successfully  used 
for  the  making  of  matches. 

Phosphorus  is  colorless  or  slightly  yellow,  translucent, 
and  poisonous.  It  occurs  in  nature  in  the  form  of  phos- 
phates or  salts  of  phosphoric  acid.  Without  it  in  the  soil, 
plants  will  not  grow,  for  it  is  indispensable  in  the  life 
process  of  both  plants  and  animals. 

The  following  may  be  mentioned  as  common  forms  of 
its  combination : 

1.  With  calcium  and  oxygen  when  calcium  phosphate 
is  formed. 

2.  With    magnesium    and    oxygen    when    magnesium 
phosphate  is  formed. 

3.  With  aluminum  and  oxygen  when  aluminum  phos- 
phate is  formed. 


58  SOILS 

4.  With  humus  materials  when  humic  phosphates  are 
formed. 

Phosphorus  is  one  of  the  elements  usually  lacking  in 
depleted  soils,  and  when  such  is  the  case,  it  must  be 
supplied  if  productive  crops  are  to  be  had. 

Chlorine:  the  salt  maker. — Chlorine  is  a  gas  of  yel- 
low-green color — hence  its  name.  In  weight  it  is  about 
2l/2  times  as  heavy  as  air.  When  separated  from  its 
compounds,  it  is  exceedingly  poisonous,  and  possesses 
a  very  disagreeable  odor. 

While  it  is  abundant  in  nature  its  most  common  as  well 
as  most  important  compound  is  common  salt. 

Among  its  combinations  may  be  mentioned: 

1.  With  sodium  it  forms  common  salt. 

2.  With  calcium  and  oxygen  it  forms  chloride  of  lime. 

3.  With  mercury  it  forms  corrosive  sublimate. 

4.  With  ammonia  and  hydrogen  it  forms  sal  ammoniac. 
Chlorine  is  found  in  all  plants  and  soils,  combined  with 

other  elements. 

The  metals:  potassium,  sodium,  calcium,  magnesium, 
aluminum,  and  iron. — The  chemist  divides  the  elements 
into  two  groups :  the  metals  and  the  non-metals.  We 
have  just  discussed  such  non-metallic  elements  as  are 
used  by  plants.  We  are  now  to  say  a  word  about  the 
metals  that  are  closely  associated  with  plants. 

Potassium. — This  element  is  of  a  bluish-white  color 
and  presents  a  strong  metallic  luster.  It  has  a  very  great 
affinity  for  oxygen.  While  potassium  is  somewhat  widely 
diffused,  it  does  not  exist  in  a  native  state — only  in  com- 
bination with  other  forms.  When  thrown  on  water, 
potassium  takes  fire. 

In  the  early  days  before  the  soap  factory  came,  water 
was  passed  through  wood  ashes,  thereby  dissolving  the 
potash  and  leaching  the  same,  to  be  collected  and  later 


60  SOILS 

to  be  made  into  soap.  This  is  one  bit  of  evidence  that 
potassium  is  present  in  plants  in  considerable  quantities ; 
and  hence  must  be  present  in  the  soil. 

Common  forms  in  which  potassium  unites : 

1.  With  chlorine  forming  muriate  of  potash. 

2.  With  sulphur  and  oxygen  and  aluminum  forming 
alum. 

3.  With    nitrogen    and    oxygen    forming    potassium 
nitrate  (saltpeter). 

Potassium  is  often  lacking  in  soils.  It  is  one  of  the 
three  elements — the  others  being  phosphorus  and  nitro- 
gen— most  often  purchased  in  commercial  forms  to  re- 
inforce the  insufficient  quantity  in  the  soil.  In  the  arts 
and  manufactures  the  potassium  compounds  are  very  im- 
portant, being  used  in  glass  making,  soap  making,  in 
fertilizers,  and  in  many  drugs  and  chemicals. 

Sodium. — When  isolated  from  its  compounds,  this  ele- 
ment is  waxy,  white,  and  so  readily  oxidized  that  it  acts 
violently  upon  water,  and  so  to  be  preserved  must  be  kept 
under  petroleum  or  some  similar  liquid.  It  is  present 
in  the  soil  in  sufficient  quantities  to  supply  all  needs  of 
the  plants  for  it.  We  know  this  element  as  an  ingredient 
of  common  salt,  of  sodium  bicarbonate,  or  soda — just 
plain  baking  soda,  of  sodium  carbonate  or  sal  soda,  and 
of  caustic  soda. 

Calcium. — This  element,  when  united  with  oxygen, 
forms  lime.  It  is  pale  yellow  in  color  when  separated 
from  its  compounds.  The  following  are  its  principal 
compounds :  Calcium  carbonate  or  limestone,  calcium 
sulphate  or  gypsum,  calcium  fluoride  or  fluor  spar,  and 
calcium  phosphate  or  apatite. 

Magnesium. — A  light  silver-white  substance,  essential 
to  plants.  Commercially  we  know  of  it  by  its  com- 
pounds: Epsom  salts  as  a  medicine,  talc  as  a  skin  pow- 


THE  ELEMENTS  THAT  PLANTS  USE  6l 

der  and  meerschaum  as  an  earthy  material.  Magnesium 
powder  burns  with  a  strong,  active  light,  and  is  used 
for  flashlights  with  the  camera. 

Aluminum. — This  light  metallic  substance  is  familiar 
to  all,  since  its  employment  in  making  useful  things  of 
all  kinds:  for  the  kitchen,  the  nursery,  etc.  It  is  re- 
markable for  its  resistance  to  oxidation.  It  is  found  in 
all  clays,  and  thus  forms  a  large  part  of  many  of  our  soils. 

Iron. — We  all  know  this  element.  It  is  the  most  com- 
mon and  most  useful  of  our  metals.  It  is  also  of  common 
occurrence  throughout  the  earth.  It  combines  readily 
with  oxygen,  as  iron  rust,  hence  the  brown  and  red  color 
of  fields  where  much  of  this  element  is  present.  Iron  is 
readily  oxidized  (rusted)  when  moisture  is  present.  The 
farmer  is  never  called  upon  to  supply  this  element  as  a 
fertilizer,  since  it  always  is  present  in  the  soil  sufficiently 
to  supply  the  needs  of  plants. 


CHAPTER  VII 


HOW  PLANT  FOOD  IS  PRESERVED 

If  you  think  Nature  is  not  careful  of  her  securities,  or 
that  she  is  not  mindful  of  the  many  deeds  of  trust  she 
holds,  or  if  you  think  her  gifts  to  man  a  sort  of  "hit  or 
miss"  donation,  you  will  quickly  change  this  view  when 

you  begin  a  study  of  the 
way  she  has  taken  care  of 
her  soil  possessions.  For 
this  is  true :  not  for  a  gen- 
eration, nor  for  a  century, 
not  even  for  the  reign  of  a 
nation,  but  Nature  must 
provide  for  centuries  and 
centuries,  for  millions  and 
millions  of  years,  that  all 
the  people  may  have  food 
and  raiment  and  a  thou- 
sand comforts  as  well. 

The  plant  the  medium. 
—Nature  makes  the  plant 
the  medium  through 
which  this  work  is  to  be 
done.  By  sending  roots  in- 
to the  soil  and  leaves  into 
the  air,  elemental  sub- 
stances are  brought  together,  arranged  and  formed  into 
organized  things,  into  plant  tissues.  Of  course  the  sun, 
with  its  heat  and  light,  is  the  great  energizing  power 
behind  this  throne  of  effort,  but  the  plant  is  the 


THE     COTTON     PLANT     ABOVE     AND 
BELOW   THE   GROUND 

Both  leaves  and  roots  are  at  work 
gathering  food  for  growth 


HOW  PLANT  FOOD  IS  PRESERVED  63 

agent  that  does  the  work.  Elements,  heretofore  inert 
and  inactive,  are  gathered  together  during  the  process  of 
growth  and  are  now  associated  by  growth  activity.  Thus 
the  elements  become  available  food  or  stored  energy  for 
animal  life,  which  in  its  turn  and  in  its  realm  carries  for- 
ward the  work  of  the  physical  world.  Whether  or  not  the 
plant  is  utilized  by  animals,  it  performs  its  function ;  for 
in  its  growth,  maturity  and  decay  it  exercises,  as  has  been 
shown,  a  profound  influence  in  the  formation  and  ameli- 
oration of  soils.  But  whether  it  goes  directly  back  to  the 
soil  by  decay,  or  indirectly  through  the  animal,  the  ele- 
ments return  to  the  soil  and  the  air  from  which  they  were 
originally  drawn.  While  the  organization  has  been 
destroyed,  not  one  single  thing  has  been  lost:  all  is  re- 
tained for  future  duty  in  the  world's  work. 

Plant  food  shifted  but  never  lost. — So  plant  food  is 
ever  shifted  but  never  lost.  On  the  mountain  top  to-day, 
but  to-morrow  it  may  be  in  the  depths  of  the  sea.  In  the 
soil,  useless  it  may  be  one  year,  but  e'er  the  summer's  sun 
has  passed  again,  it  has  been  locked  for  a  brief  space  in 
grain  or  fruit  or  forage,  gathered  here  and  garnered  there 
until  animal  life  has  picked  again  its  organized  state  to 
pieces :  when  back  to  its  original  elemental  form  this 
same  material  goes  again. 

Not  all  elemental  material  is  used. — Do  not  think  that 
all  the  earth  and  air  is  engaged  in  this  constant  transitory 
condition.  This  is  true:  only  a  part  of  the  earth  and  air 
are  thus  engaged — just  a  wee  bit,  in  fact.  The  greater 
part  of  it,  more  than  ninety-nine  parts  of  every  one  hun- 
dred, is  never  used  at  all.  And  why?  Simply  because 
Nature  has  chosen  that  way  as  the  manner  in  which  her 
work  shall  be  done.  For  she  is  wiser  than  you  may  think. 
Suppose  she  had  allowed  all  the  earth  and  all  the  air  to 
be  usable  food  for  plants  and  beasts  and  men :  would  it 


64  SOILS 

be  here  to-day?  When  we  find  it  so  difficult  to  hold  fast 
to  the  little  that  has  been  given  us,  do  you  think  we  were 
able  to  care  for  plant  food  in  all  its  entirety,  had  it  been 
i^'iven  into  our  keeping?  If  man  knows  not  how  to  use 
Mis  one  talent,  shall  he  be  given  two? 

Let  me  assure  you  of  this :  it  is  better  that  things  are 
as  they  are,  for  had  they  been  different,  had  all  the  plant 
food  been  just  ready  to  use  from  the  very  beginning  of 
time,  then  long  before  this  the  sea  had  gathered  it  up: 
to  have  it  and  to  hold  it,  until  its  bottoms  had  been  filled 
and  its  banks  had  been  broken ;  until  new  sea  beds  had 
been  formed,  until  the  old  reservoirs  had  been  robbed 
of  their  holdings  by  wind  and  air — plant  food  should  be 
urgently  required  else  all  life  would  be  lost ;  else  the 
entire  world  would  be  ruined  and  destroyed. 

How  plant  food  is  held. — We  gather  from  this  that 
some  plant  food  is  available  for  use,  and  some  of  it  is  not. 
We  may  say  then  that  three  forms  of  plant  food  exist  in 
the  soil. 

These  three  forms  are : 

1.  Available  plant  food. 

2.  Not-immediately-available  plant  food. 

3.  Tightly-secured  plant  food. 

Let  us  now  examine  these  forms  individually. 

Available  plant  food. — You  have,  doubtless, 
seen  nitrate  of  soda  or  wood  ashes.  Both  of 
these  materials  are  used  to  make  plants  grow ; 
for  this  purpose  they  are  purchased.  They  are 
plant  foods.  The  nitrate  of  soda  or  wood  ashes 
are  used  because  the  nitrogen  or  the  potassium 
contained  therein  is  in  each  case  available  plant 
food  ;  that  is,  growing  plants  will  be  able  to  use 

A  ROOT  HAIR  ^^g     material     just     as     soon     as     it     gets 
WITH  SOIL        .  .  . 

ATTACHED     mixed  with  the  soil  grains  and  wetted  with 


HOW  PLANT  FOOD  IS  PRESERVED  65 

the  soil  water.  The  plant  food — nitrogen  and  potassium 
contained  in  these  materials — at  once  goes  into  solution ; 
the  soil  water  dissolves  these  two  elements  out  of  their 
compounds  and  both  enter  the  roots  of  plants  as  rapidly 
as  either  is  called.  If  just  a  small  quantity  of  either  mate- 


MAKING  PLANT  FOOD  AVAILABLE 

The  farm  orchard  is  neglected  too  often.     Some  people  cultivate  their 
orchards  every  year,  and  by  so  doing  get  the  helpful  influences  of  tillage 


rial  had  been  given  the  soil,  the  entire  amount  added 
might  have  been  gathered  in  by  the  plants  there  growing 
in  a  single  season,  but  if  more  than  that  required  had 
been  applied  to  the  soil,  then,  the  surplus  would  remain 
there  for  succeeding  crops,  or  it  would  be  lost  by  the  win- 
ter's leachings  in  case  the  soil  and  subsoil  were  open  and 
sandy  and  deficient  in  humus — the  guardian  and  pro- 
tector of  the  available  plant  food. 


66  SOILS 

Available  plant  food  in  the  soil  is  small. — Even  in 
very  fertile  soils  a  great  deal  of  available  plant  food  is 
never  present.  Available  plant  food  comes  and  goes ; 
especially  is  this  true  with  soils  having  poor  texture  and 
poor  physical  conformation.  There  seems  to  be  a  certain 
possible  limit,  depending  on  the  condition  and  the  treat- 
ment a  soil  has  been  given  previously.  When  this  limit 
has  been  reached,  available  plant  food  passes  into  some 
insoluble  form  that  loss  may  be  ever  kept  within  reason — 
an  organized  retreat,  rather  than  an  utter  rout. 

Soils  abundantly  supplied  with  vegetable  matter  are 
the  least  susceptible  to  this  changing  state.  They  hold 
plant  food  better  and  longer,  so  long,  in  fact,  as  the 
vegetable  supply  is  kept  replenished.  These  humus  soils, 
when  favored  originally  with  all  needed  mineral  materials, 
lead  in  the  race  of  high  production,  other  things  being 
equal,  like  water,  heat,  tillage,  and  correct  management. 

How  much  plant  food  in  the  soil? — Since  nitrogen, 
phosphorus  and  potassium  are  the  elements,  as  a  rule, 
lacking  in  the  soil,  we  need  consider  them  only  in  esti- 
mating the  plant-food  content  of  any  soil. 

To  illustrate  this  point  just  a  bit  of  evidence  will  be 
produced.  The  data  below,  arranged  by  Roberts,  present 
the  case:  Average  analyses  of  49  soils:  Nitrogen,  3,053 
pounds;  phosphorus,  4,219  pounds;  and  potassium,  16,317 
pounds.  These  quantities  are  present  in  each  acre,  the 
depth  being  twelve  inches. 

The  not-immediately-available  plant  food. — Passing 
now  to  the  second  form  in  which  plant  food  exists,  we 
have  that  which  is  unaffected  by  the  dissolving  effects 
of  soil  water — soil  water,  you  know,  secures  the  available 
form  at  once  or  very  quickly — and  only  slightly  by  the 
acids  exuded  by  the  roots.  This  not-immediately-avail- 
able plant  food,  in  so  far  as  the  present  crop  is  to  be  fed, 


HOW  PLANT  FOOD  IS  PRESERVED  67 

has  no  concern,  for  it  contributes  no  food  for  the  plant. 
Perhaps  it  helps  a  little ;  but  so  slowly,  so  niggardly,  so 
begrudgingly,  its  help  needs  not  be  included,  as  a  rule, 
in  immediate  results. 

An  example  of  this  form. — Fine  ground  phosphatic 
rock — untreated  with  acid — is  a  good  example  of  this  sec- 
ond class — this  not-immediately-available  plant  food. 
True,  this  rock  has  been  ground  and  maybe  as  finely  as 
practical  grinding  machines  are  able  to  do  it.  Still,  plants 


AT    WORK    IX   THE    CORX-FIELD 
Cultivation  is  helpful  in  rendering  plant  food  available 

t 

are  unable  to  use  it,  fine  as  it  is,  for  plant  roots,  you  know. 
never  entice  particles  into  their  tiny  cells ;  they  take  only 
dissolved  materials.  Hence  this  fine  ground  rock- 
needed  though  it  may  be  by  the  very  plants  that  reject  it — 
is  still  mere  unavailable  plant  food.  And  so  it  will  re- 
main until  air  and  water,  or  heat  and  cold,  have  tried 
their  pulverizing,  disintegrating  powers,  until  their 
forces  have  crumbled  it  and  humbled  it  into  dust — then, 


68  SOILS 

and  not  till  then,  will  this  material  (in  any  considerable 
quantity)  pass  into  solution  and  into  available  plant  food. 
Of  course,  the  same  effect  may  be  accomplished  in 
other  ways  and  in  quicker  ways :  by  employing  acids,  for 
instance.  And  this  is  done,  and  on  a  very  large  scale  in 
many  of  our  commercial  fertilizer  factories.  The  huge 
crushers  take  the  rocks  as  they  go  from  the  beds  in  the 
earth,  they  twist  and  turn  and  roll  and  pound  them  until 
they  are  broken  into  pieces ;  and  then  the  dissolving  by 


GETTING  READY  FOR  COTTON 
Cotton  lands  need  good  tillage  and  humus  more  than  fertilizers 

sulphuric  acid  follows.  Before  this  the  ground  rock  re- 
sisted ;  feebly,  now,  a  part  of  it  gives  up  and  becomes 
plant  food — available  plant  food. 

In  this  instance  man's  contrivance  has  done  more  in  a 
week  than  Nature,  unaided,  would  be  able  to  accomplish 
in  a  century.  With  her  own  acids,  man  sometimes  re- 
quires Nature,  herself,  to  do  his  will.  After  all,  this  form 
of  plant  food  as  it  exists  in  the  soil  is  not  for  the  present 


HOW  PLANT  FOOD  IS  PRESERVED  69 

day ;  it  is  for  the  morrow.  It  is  the  inside  material  that 
is  being  prepared  and  manufactured  slowly,  that  it  may 
be  made  a  part  of  the  soil's  labor  and  commerce,  and 
that  it  may  be  available  at  some  future  day  when  it  will 
be  called  into  use. 

Making  this  kind  of  food  available. — To  help  in  this 
work  you  can  do  these  things : 

Till  the  soil  frequently  and  well. 

Cultivate  when  needed,  using  judgment  and  fore- 
thought. 

Keep  vegetable  matter  in  the  soil. 

Tillage  will  admit  air  and  water  to  lower  depths  in 
the  soil.  These  agents,  in  themselves,  will  do  wonders  in 
changing  this  heretofore  unavailable  plant  food  into  avail- 
able forms. 

Correct  culture  will  do  the  same :  for  it  allows  these 
same  busy  bodies  to  carry  on  their  weathering  processes 
even  though  the  soil  be  dry  or  moist  or  cold  or  hot. 

The  tightly-secured  plant  food. — The  third  class,  or 
that  form  in  which  plant  food  is  tightly  secured,  occupies 
the  greater  part  of  the  storehouse  of  the  soil.  Here  are 
the  rocks  and  the  boulders ;  the  many  materials  that 
plants  never  use  find  rest  and  shelter  within  this  clothing 
of  the  earth :  and  not  a  bit  of  it  is  available  plant  food, 
not  a  bit  of  it  will  be  plant  food  for  ages  and  ages  and 
ages  to  come. 

Use  the  strongest  acids  known  and  they  will  act  but 
slowly  on  many  of  the  materials  herein  sheltered  or  hid 
away  from  water  and  air.  What  headway  may  plants 
be  expected  to  make  against  these  giant  forms?  Not 
much,  truly.  But  still  remember  this :  In  the  beginning 
the  earth  was  rock — nothing  but  rock,  and  yet  plants 
did  conquer.  And  so  in  time,  aided  by  other  good  soil 
makers,  they  will  conquer  every  stubborn  rock  that  finds 


7O  SOILS 

its  way  into  the  surface  soil.  The  water  will  help,  and 
the  air  will  help ;  so  also  will  frost  and  heat  do  the  part 
that  should  be  done  by  them :  all  these  will  work  to- 
gether, just  as  they  did  millions  of  years  ago  when  all 
was  in  the  beginning,  just  as  they  have  worked  always 
and  even  as  they  are  working  now. 

It's  Nature's  way. — And  this  is  as  it  should  be:  for 
there  must  be  plant  food  for  the  use  of  the  world  when 
another  million  years  shall  have  rolled  around.  It  were 
not  right  for  us  to  have  it  all.  Fast  secured  it  is  and 
fast  secured  it  will  remain.  It's  Nature's  way  of  pro- 
viding for  all  the  plants  and  animals  and  peoples  that  in 
time  shall  come. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
GETTING  ACQUAINTED  WITH  PLANT  FOOD 

The  elements  usually  deficient  in  the  soil  are  nitrogen, 
phosphorus  and  potassium.  All  others  are  found  in  quan- 
tities sufficient  for  the  needs  of  the  plant.  In  some  soils 
lime  has  proved  of  value  when  added,  largely  because  of 
its  influence  in  sweetening  the  soil,  and  sometimes  be- 
cause it  may  be  needed  as  food  substance. 

Our  early  faith  in  chemical  analysis. — When  chem- 
istry was  directed  toward  agriculture  some  sixty  years 
ago,  and  when  a  great  deal  of  attention  was  devoted  to 
analyses  of  soils  and  plants,  it  was  believed  that  much 
light  was  thrown  on  the  many  problems  concerned  with 
soil  fertility.  And  such  was  the  case.  The  soil  and  plant 
analyst  gave  the  world  much  information  that  served  both 
as  a  guide  and  as  a  help  in  solving  some  of  the  mysteries 
of  soils  and  plants. 

We  had  a  great  deal  of  faith  in  the  analyses  of  those 
early  days.  For  was  it  not  reasonable  to  suppose  that 
when  you  analyzed  the  plant,  ascertaining  its  many  con- 
stituents and  substances,  and  then  when  you  analyzed 
the  soil,  you  should  be  able  to  judge,  and  to  know  within 
reason,  just  what  element  was  required  for  any  soil  for  the 
maximum  yield  of  the  crop? 

The  plant,  therefore,  was  analyzed,  a  careful  study 
of  the  elements  composing  it  was  given,  a  comparison  of 
these  chemical  studies  with  plants  of  the  samo  kind, 
though  grown  in  other  soils,  was  made ;  in  short,  it  was 
carefully  determined  just  how  much  of  each  and  of  every 
kind  of  elements  essential  to  plants  was  withdrawn  from 


72  SOILS 

the  soil,  when  both  full  and  average  and  meager  yields 
were  secured. 

Naturally,  it  was  concluded  that  when  the  full  crop 
was  obtained,  all  elements  of  food  were,  of  course,  pres- 
ent, and  therefore  every  requirement  of  the  plant  was 
available  and  provided ;  that  where  light  yields  were 
obtained,  some  element  or  elements  was  present  insuffi- 
ciently for  the  fullest  development  of  the  plant.  Conse- 
quently, if  you  would  overcome  this  difficulty,  you  had 
only  to  take  a  sample  of  the  backward  soil  that  its  anal- 
ysis might  be  secured  and  then  the  truant  element  would 
be  discovered.  With  this  done,  its  duties  might  be  pro- 
vided through  the  addition  of  the  element  in  some  other 
way — by  chemical  manures,  most  likely. 

What  was  later  revealed. — Some  surprise  followed  the 
analysis  of  soils,  for  high  productive  soils  often  showed 
no  greater  plant-food  content  than  the  most  miserable 
producing  ones.  And  this  was  just  the  same  when  a  like 
crop  was  seeded  on  similar  soil  types. 

This  naturally  caused  surprise  and  further  investiga- 
tion. All  sorts  of  soils  were  then  analyzed  and  all  sorts  of 
plants.  The  same  results  were  obtained ;  as  a  rule,  how- 
ever, the  best  producing  soils  contained  a  large  quantity 
of  plant  food,  the  low  producing  soils  a  smaller  quantity. 
When  calculations  were  made,  it  soon  was  discovered 
that  great  quantities  of  plant  food,  even  in  the  most  un- 
productive soils,  were  present;  quantities  so  great  that 
in  but  a  few  inches  of  surface  soil,  enough  plant  food  was 
there  at  hand  to  make  maximum  yields,  and  these  yields 
for  hundreds  of  years.  When  these  same  soils  were 
seeded  to  crops,  however,  light  yields  invariably  resulted, 
despite  the  fact  that  chemical  analysis  showed  that  every 
kind  of  plant  food  was  there  and  it  was  there  abundantly 
— an  hundred  times  as  much  as  the  plant  required. 


GETTING  ACQUAINTED  WITH  PLANT  FOOD 


73 


The  gap  between  laboratory  and  field  tests. — No  one 

realized  these  discrepancies  more  quickly  than  the  early 
investigators  themselves.  But  they  could  not  explain 
them.  They  felt  they  were  working  in  the  right  direction, 
but  the  results  of  the  laboratory  and  those  of  the  field 
often  failed  to  find  a  common  meeting  point;  often  the 
laboratory  results  indicated  high  producing  qualities,  but 


POOR  GRASS,   POOR  CATTLE 
This  soil  is  deficient  in  available  plant  food  and  humus 

the  actual  field  results  showed  decided  negative  results ; 
often  the  laboratory  results  indicated  only  mediocre  crops, 
yet  at  harvest  time  the  fields  showed  entirely  opposite 
results — full  crops,  as  good  as  the  best. 

The  explanation  is  here. —  In  more  recent  years  an  ex- 
planation has  been  suggested.  It  is  this:  Kvery  soil  con- 
tains two  kinds  of  plant  food:  usable,  such  as  plants 


74  SOILS 

secure  without  difficulty,  and  unusable,  such  as  is  enclosed 
in  the  storehouse  of  rocks  and  particles  and  compounds. 
The  soil  analyst  is  not  able  to  distinguish  between  these 
two  forms,  with  sufficient  accuracy  to  tell  exactly  what 
the  plant  may  need  at  any  given  time.  Neither  his  cru- 
cible nor  his  acids  will  help  him,  in  any  certain  degree. 
When  the  test  actually  takes  place  in  the  field,  the  story 
is  there  told  with  language  of  no  uncertain  meaning.  In 
a  previous  chapter  the  kinds  of  food  were  mentioned : 
available,  the  not-immediately-available  and  the  tight- 
ly-secured plant  food. 

Of  course  we  cannot  expect  chemical  analysis  to  show 
the  differences  between  these  forms.  We  are  able  only 
to  determine  the  total  amount  of  food  present :  the  poten- 
tial plant  food,  the  food  that  is  now  and  shall  be  available 
some  day  hereafter,  as  food  for  plants.  An  old  notion 
is  still  held. "  A  great  mass  of  people  still  believe,  that  all 
that  is  necessary  to  know  how  to  handle  a  soil  is  to  secure 
its  analysis  that  the  plant  food  content  may  be  ascer- 
tained. But,  with  our  present  knowledge,  let  this  be 
accepted  as  certainty :  the  chemist  can  determine  only 
the  total  quantity  of  plant  food  in  the  soil :  the  usable 
plant  food  plus  the  unusable  plant  food.  And  he  cannot 
tell  you  whether  it  is  available  food  or  otherwise.  It 
will  be  necessary  for  you  to  seek  elsewhere  than  the  labo- 
ratory for  direction. 

Analysis  will  help  to  some  extent. — But  an  analysis 
of  the  soil  may  do  great  good.  It  may  indicate  in  what 
direction  improvement  lies  :  whether  tillage  only  is  neces- 
sary that  dormant  supplies  may  be  called  into  use, 
whether  organic  manures  are  best  that  the  humus  con- 
tent may  be  increased,  or  whether  mineral  manures  are 
likely  needed  that  they  may  reenforce  the  plant  food  al- 
ready present.  While  it  is  true  these  are  indicative  only, 


GETTING  ACQUAINTED  WITH  PLANT  FOOD  75 

their  value  is  most  noted  when  judiciously  weighed  and 
interpreted. 

Investigation  along  this  line  indicates  that  a  most  im- 
portant character  in  soil  analysis  is  calcium  carbonate, 
the  lime  carrier. 

The  following  suggestions  seem  in  accordance  with 
this  fact: 

1.  When  calcium  carbonate  is  scanty  in  the  soil,  liming 
the  land  is  advisable. 

2.  When  calcium  carbonate  is  scanty  in  the  soil,  acid- 
made    manures,    like    acid    phosphate,    super-phosphate, 
ammonia  sulphate,  are  inadvisable,  and  manures,  neutral 
in  nature,  like  basic  slag,  ground  bone,  wood  ashes,  and 
nitrate  of  soda,  should  be  used. 

3.  When  calcium  carbonate  is  plentiful  in  the  soil,  then 
the  acid-made  manures  may  be  used. 

4.  When   calcium   carbonate  is  abundant  in  the  soil, 
nitrification  of  organic  matter  will  take  place  rapidly. 

5.  When  calcium  carbonate  is  abundant  in  the  soil,  use- 
ful bacteria  will  develop  with  ease. 

Analyses  should  be  extensive. — An  isolated  soil  anal- 
ysis is  seldom  satisfactory  for  the  simple  reason  there  is 
no  standard  of  comparison.  All  values  result  through 
their  measure  with  other  standards.  We  get  the  great 
bulk  of  our  knowledge  by  comparison.  Every  isolated 
subject  is  valueless  unless  it  can  be  compared  with  some 
known  quantity.  For  this  reason,  an  isolated  soil  anal- 
ysis is  without  value  unless  it  can  be  compared  with  the 
known  value  of  some  other  soil  analysis.  For  this  rea- 
son, then,  soil  analyses  ought  to  be  extensive  and  gen- 
eral, rather  than  isolated  and  haphazard.  Such  a  system 
will  give  us  general  standards  that  will  be  valuable  with 
every  comparison. 

Analyses  of  soil  and  subsoil  should  be  made. — When 


76  SOILS  , 

making  a  soil  analysis,  both  soil  and  subsoil  should  enter 
into  consideration,  for  the  variation  between  these  two, 
in  chemical  compounds,  may  compensate  sometimes  one 


I— SUBSOIL  2— SURFACE  SOIL 

CORN    GROWING    IN    SURFACE    SOIL    AND    SUBSOIL 
There  is  practically  no  growth  at  all  in  the  raw  subsoil 

for  the  other.  If  a  sand  soil  were  analyzed,  it  might 
show  very  meager  possibilities  for  crop  production  and 
especially  this  might  be  true  if  the  subsoil  were  likewise 
of  a  sand  nature,  and  at  some  depth.  If,  on  the  other 


GETTING  ACQUAINTED  WITH  PLANT  FOOD 


77 


hand,  just  beneath  the  upper  eight  or  nine  inches  of  sand 
soil,  a  subsoil  of  clay  formation  were  present,  it  follows 
that  different  conditions,  of  course,  are  ever  at  hand,  so 
that  a  lack  of  any  soil  constituent  in  the  soil  might  be 
furnished  by  the  subsoil  and,  what  would  indicate,  by 
analysis,  a  poor,  or  even  barren  soil,  might,  in  fact,  be  a 
most  productive  one.  This  shows  the  necessity  of  con- 


A    BEET   DRILL   AT    WORK 

Seeds  are  put  into  the  ground  and  the  soil  compacted  that  moisture  may  be  at 
hand  to  germinate  the  seed  and  to  supply  the  needs  of  the  little  plant 


sidering  soil  analysis  from  a  broad  standpoint,  that  every 
phase  of  the  subject  may  be  included. 

The  condition,  as  well  as  quantity,  must  be  known. — 
Furthermore,  the  condition  of  the  plant  food  must  be 
given  its  proper  weight,  fully  as  much  as  is  given  the 
absolute  quantity  of  plant  food.  An  analysis  might  show 
that  nitrogen,  for  instance,  is  present  in  the  soil  as  am- 
monia or  as  nitrates.  The  latter  would  be  more  readily 


78  SOILS 

usable  by  the  plants.  Then,  too,  if  it  were  known  that 
the  plant  food  were  held  in  a  soil  that  is  finely  pow- 
dered, of  good  physical  condition,  well  supplied  with 
water,  bacteria,  and  all  factors  incidental  to  the  growth 
of  this  supply,  we  should  prefer  to  stand  our  chances 
with  a  soil  of  this  nature,  with  plant  food  in  this  condi- 
tion, than  where  all  opposite  conditions  were  present. 

Observe  the  soil  itself. — If  you  would  get  acquainted 
with  this  hidden  plant  food  which  you  cannot  see,  you 
must  take  the  soil,  itself,  into  your  confidence  and  then 
continue  to  observe  the  soil  in  the  fields ;  to  watch  it  as 
it  produces  crops  of  this  nature  and  of  that  nature ;  to 
see  how  it  behaves  in  summer  and  in  winter  or  in  wet 
seasons  or  in  dry  seasons :  in  short,  you  must  not  neglect 
this  constant  intimacy  with  the  soil  out  of  doors,  as  it 
does  the  work  satisfactorily,  or  as  it  tries  to  do  it  under 
the  circumstances  with  which  you  have  enclosed  it. 

With  this  training,  which  you  must  give  yourself  that 
you  may  learn  to  observe  and  to  know  the  soil,  and  to 
reenforce  the  best  knowledge  by  such  information  as 
general  soil  analyses — not  in  isolated  cases,  but  of  soil 
groups  or  soil  types — you  should  be  able  so  to  acquaint 
yourself  with  your  soils  that  you  may  know  the  best  way 
of  handling  and  treating  them  for  each  and  every  crop. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  POTENTIAL  PLANT  FOOD:  ITS  STORES  AND 
NATURE 

Just  as  soon  as  it  was  determined  that  a  mere  chemical 
analysis  of  the  soil  would  not  reveal  the  element  or  ele- 
ments lacking  therein,  a  study  of  the  way  in  which  dif- 
ferent crops  used  the  food  elements  was  undertaken. 


A  CROP  THAT  CALLS   FOR   MUCH   NITROGEN 

Corn   makes  heavy   demands  on   the    nitrogen  stores  and  does  best  when  in 
rotation  with  the  legumes 


This  study  soon  showed  that  all  plants  used  the  same 
kinds  of  food,  incorporating  these  foods  in  their  body 
tissues,  and,  also,  that  these  foods  were  used  by  the 
different  plants  in  varying  proportions:  some  using  a 


8o 


SOILS 


good  deal  of  nitrogen  but  little  phosphorus  and  potas- 
sium, others  using  but  little  nitrogen  but  much  phos- 
phorus and  potassium,  and  still  others  much  potassium 
but  little  nitrogen  and  phosphorus,  and  other  plants  us- 
ing these  foods  in  still  other  proportions.  As  individual 
plants  were  studied,  it  was  observed  that  some  plants 
used  one  or  more  food  elements  that  each  particularly 
fancied,  and  while  each  used  the  other  elements,  it  did  so 
very  modestly,  and,  when  compared  with  its  favorite 
dish,  often  very  shyly,  indeed. 

Some  variations  in  food  requirements. — To  prove  that 
these  variations  in  food  requirement  are  real,  we  need  to 
examine  only  a  few  plants — just  four  of  our  leading 
cereals. 

The  table  following  shows  these  variations  with  four 
crops — each  one  being  partial  to  a  different  combination 
of  food  elements : 


Crop* 

Nitrogen 

Phosphorus 

Potassium 

Corn  

22.8 

Wheat  

•11.6 

Oats  

ii  6 

36.1 

Barley  

This  table  shows  that  while  corn  is  a  heavy  feeder  of 
nitrogen  and  potassium,  it  is  certainly  modest  in  its  de- 
mands on  phosphorus.  The  table  shows,  also,  that  when 
wheat  and  oats  are  compared,  that  the  call  for  nitrogen  is 
practically  identical  with  the  two  crops,  but  that  oats  call 
for  about  20  per  cent,  more  phosphorus  and  no  per  cent, 
more  potassium  than  wheat. 

*  On  basis  of  average  yield  per  acre  in  United  States. 


THE    POTENTIAL    PLANT    FOOD 


8l 


In  the  case  of  barley,  potassium  is  most  in  demand, 
with  nitrogen  not  far  behind,  and  phosphorus  within  the 
minimum  range. 

Let  us  express  these  demands  in  terms  of  proportion, 
using  nitrogen  and  100  as  the  units  of  comparisons  for 
each  crop  :  we  get : 


Nitrogen 

Phosphorus 

Potassium 

Corn  

83 

Wheat           

56 

Oats        

^6 

Barley  

These  variations  appear  still  more  noticeable  when  we 
use  the  nitrogen  of  corn  as  the  sole  unit  of  comparison: 
we  get : 


Crop 

Nitrogen 

Phosphorus 

Potassium 

Corn  

8^ 

Wheat  

Oats  

Barlev  

66 

These  two  tables  show  notable  variations  in  food  ele- 
ments, utilized  by  different  plants.  Our  comparison,  in 
this  instance,  is  of  cereals,  only  ;  when  the  range  of  ob- 
servation includes,  not  only  cereals  but  also  legumes, 
fiber  crops,  the  grasses,  and  root  and  vegetable  crops,  as 
well,  the  differences  are  peculiarly  striking  and  marked. 

Feeding  demands  of  crops. — The  question  naturally 
arises :  Is  it  likely  that  continuous  cropping  will  exhaust 


82  SOILS 

the  land?  And  then,  again,  another  question:  Is  the 
potential  plant  food  in  sufficient  store  in  the  soil  to  meet 
all  plant  demands  on  it?  We  have  discussed,  already, 
the  forms  of  plant  food,  and  we  shall  not,  at  this  time, 
consider  the  many  ways  open  to  us  for  rendering  these 
forms  available. 

Let  us,  however,  just  as  nearly  as  we  are  able,    deter- 


A   CROP  THAT   GETS    NITROGEN    FROM    THE  AIR 

mine  the  quantities  of  food  demanded  of  the  soil  by  some 
continuous  system  of  farming. 

For  the  purpose  of  illustration,  let  us  assume  that  a 
young  man  at  the  age  of  21  years  secures  a  farm  which 
he  is  to  manage  during  his  life — for  50  years,  we  will 
say.  He  plans  a  system  of  plant  rotation  as  follows : 
(i)  corn,  (2)  wheat,  (3)  clover,  (4)  clover  and  timothy, 
and  (5)  timothy:  a  five-year  cycle.  During  the  50  years 
each  crop  will  be  removed  10  times.  Our  problem  is  this : 
In  case  each  of  these  crops  is  removed  10  times  and  noth- 
ing returned  to  the  land,  how  many  pounds  of  nitrogen, 
phosphorus  and  potassium  will  be  demanded  of  the  soil, 
provided  the  yields  are :  corn  50  bushels,  wheat  25  bush- 
els, clover  2  tons,  clover  and  timothy  il/2  tons,  and  timo- 
thy i  ton  during  each  five-year  cycle? 

On  the  bases  of  average  composition  we  get  the  follow- 
ing: 


THE    POTENTIAL    PLANT    FOOD 


Nitrogen 

Phosphorus 

Potassium 

Corn  
Wheat  

Clover  

Clover  and 
Timothy.... 

Timothy  .... 

In  50  bushels  
In  2  tons  stover  

40.9 
41.6 

35-4 
17-7 

82.8    ' 

40.1 
18.9 

25.2 

19.6 
ii.  6 

ii.  8 
3-6 

15-2 

5-7 
8.0 

10.6 

II  .2 

56.0 

7-5 
iS-3 

88.0 

33-o 
13-5 

18.0 

In  25  bushels  
In  i  J^  tons  straw  

In  2  tons  

In  y±  ton  clover  
In  y±  ton  timothy  

In  i  ton  timothy  

Totals  for 

each  cycle  

302.6 

86.1 

242.5 

This  table  shows  the  total  quantities  of  three  plant-food 
ingredients  secured  by  plants  from  the  soil  during  each 
cycle  period.  Since  10  of  these  periods  are  included  in 
the  entire  period  of  50  years,  there  are  removed  3,026 
pounds  of  nitrogen,  861  pounds  of  phosphorus,  and  2,425 
pounds  of  potassium :  in  the  aggregate  a  large  quantity. 
The  next  questions  arising  now  are :  Can  the  soil  sup- 
port this  draft  on  it?  Does  the  soil  hold  in  store  enough 
plant  food  to  fill  these  demands? 

To  answer  these  two  questions,  we  will  consult  the 
soil  itself.  For  the  purpose,  we  will  call  for  evidence 
25  soils  that  produce  on  an  average  the  yields  suggested 
in  this  study — 50  bushels  of  corn,  25  bushels  of  wheat, 
and  4l/2  tons  of  clover  and  timothy  (in  three  years).  We 
will  get  these  soils  from  different  sections  of  the  country : 
from  the  South,  North,  East  and  West,  from  the  cotton 
belt,  the  hay  belt,  and  the  corn  belt,  from  the  arid  lands, 
the  semi-arid  and  the  humid  regions ;  in  short,  we  will 
take  typical  lands  of  the  country. 

The  quantities  of  plant-food  ingredients — nitrogen, 
phosphorus  and  potassium — found  in  the  fine  particles 
of  each  acre  in  the  surface  foot  are  as  follows :  Nitrogen, 


84  SOILS 

6,984  pounds  ;  phosphorus,  2,824  pounds ;  and  potassium, 
12,460  pounds. 

When  these  amounts  are  considered  in  connection  with 
the  requirements  of  the  four  crops — corn,  wheat,  clover 
and  timothy — for  the  fifty-year  period,  we  get  the  supply 
value  of  each  ingredient. 

By  simple  calculation : 

Nitrogen  will  last  2.30  fifty-year  periods,  or  115  years. 

Phosphorus  will  last  3.28  fifty-year  periods,  or  164 
years. 

Potassium  will  last  5.12  fifty-year  periods,  or  256  years. 


A  SURE  WAY  TO  IMPROVE  THE  SOIL 

Four  important  factors  to  take  into  account. — But 
there  are  four  other  factors  that  enter  into  this  furnishing- 
supply  consideration  besides  the  supposedly-available 
stores.  These  factors  are  : 

1.  The   constant    contribution    to    the   available    store 
from  previously  unavailable  material. 

2.  The  return  to  the  land  of  straw,  stover  and  other 
manurial  refuse. 

3.  The   increase   of  the  nitrogen   supply   through   the 
legumes. 

4.  The  help  that  comes  from  the  subsoil. 


THE    POTENTIAL    PLANT    FOOD  85 

The  contribution  to  the  store  of  available  ingredi- 
ents.— Nature  is  at  work,  constantly,  changing  the  un- 
available stores  of  plant-food  ingredients  into  available 
forms :  every  sort  of  soil  maker  is  at  work.  Hence,  we 
may  conclude  that  the  crops  (included  in  our  rotation) 
have  not  only  for  use  the  supply  that  was  available  at  the 
beginning,  but  they  have,  also,  an  additional  supply  that 
is  being  contributed  constantly  by  the  soil-making  agents. 

It  is  not  unreasonable,  then,  to  suppose,  that  when  wise 
farming  is  done,  manure  added  to  the  land,  thorough 
tillage  performed  and  a  good  tilth  maintained,  this  contri- 
bution to  the  store  of  available  food  ingredients  will  keep 
pace  with  the  outgo  through  the  crops  removed. 

In  this  connection  attention  should  be  called  to  the  fact 
that  soils  are  running  out  rapidly  under  the  present  sys- 
tem, due  to  loss  of  available  food  by  constant  removal  of 
crops,  and  to  the  loss  of  humus,  and  the  consequent  in- 
jury to  physical  condition. 

The  return  of  ingredients  to  the  land. — There  is  sel- 
dom observed  a  system  of  soil  cropping  that  removes 
the  entire  crop  growth  away  from  the  land :  always  some 
part  of  the  crop  is  returned  to  the  soil,  from  where  it 
originally  came.  With  cotton,  leaves,  stalks,  and  often 
the  seed  find  their  way  back ;  with  corn,  the  entire  stalk 
or  else  the  main  stem,  with  the  leaves,  in  the  resulting 
manure;  with  wheat,  always  the  stubble  and  often  the 
straw ;  and  so  with  the  most  of  our  crops :  some  parts  of 
them  go  back  to  the  soil.  In  this  way,  the  annual  re- 
moval of  plant  food  is  lessened  and  a  complete  exhaustion 
is,  in  every  way,  quite  out  of  the  question. 

The  increase  of  nitrogen  due  to  the  legumes. — In  the 
cycle  discussed  previously,  during  the  entire  term,  clover 
occupies  the  land,  more  or  less,  for  twenty  years.  Consid- 
ered in  connection  with  this  discussion,  it  is  clearly  evi- 


86  SOILS 

dent  that  the  nitrogen  supply,  instead  of  being  seriously 
disturbed,  more  likely  is  preserved  and  it  may  not  be  out  of 
the  range  of  possibilities  to  suppose  that  the  normal  aver- 
age is  ever  increased :  a  feature  quite  opposite  in  effect  to 
that  of  depletion.  Certainly,  land  occupied  by  clover  two- 
fifths  of  the  time  during  a  fifty-year  period  preserves  its 
producing  power.  Who  will  say  it  does  not  even  increase  it? 
The  help  that  comes  from  the  subsoil. — Since  roots 
have  come  into  the  range  of  observation  and  study,  we 
know  that  they  seek  deeper  pastures  than  the  surface  foot 
allows.  Roots  go  to  a  depth  of  two,  three,  four  and  often 


INCREASING    THE    NITROGEN    WITH    LEGUMES 

A  crop  of  soy  beans  that  are   bringing  nitrogen  into  the  boil  and  at  the  same 
time  producing  a  high  protein  feed 

ten  or  twelve  feet.  Consequently,  the  supplies  that  come 
to  plants  are  not  solely  from  the  surface  foot :  for  plants 
get  food  wherever  their  roots  go,  wherever  the  root  hairs 
find  mellow  earth  into  which  they  may  search. 

This  subsoil  contribution,  therefore,  is  a  large  one,  and 
one  that,  in  a  great  measure,  influences  the  potential  sup- 
ply of  plant  food,  commonly  supposed  belonging  to  the 
surface  soil,  but  which  is  a  not-inconsiderable  factor  of  the 
entire  food-furnishing  possibilities  of  the  land. 


THE    POTENTIAL    PLANT    FOOD  8/ 

Potential  plant  food  is  large. — We  may  be  certain, 
therefore,  that  the  potential  supply  of  food  is  large,  that 
the  stores  of  available  plant  food  are  more  or  less  con- 
stantly reenforced  from  other  sources  and  that,  this  being 
the  case,  the  following  conclusions  are  correct : 

1.  Soils   are   able   to  produce   crops   indefinitely   with 
proper  treatment. 

2.  Soils  are  never  exhausted  of  their  potential  plant 
food. 

3.  Soils  are  often  depleted  in  producing  power,  but  only 
temporarily. 

4.  \Yorn-out  soils  are  not  exhausted   chemically  but 
physically.     Their  humus  has  been  used  up. 

5.  Soils,  once  productive,  but  now  unproductive,  may 
be  restored  to  their  former  state  through  the  rejuvenation 
of  the  physical  life. 

6.  Physical  improvement  is  the  first  step  necessary  for 
restoring  the  producing  power  of  soils. 

7.  A  fertile  soil,  wisely  managed,  maintains  its  fertility. 

8.  A  fertile  soil,  unwisely  managed,  loses  its  fertility — 
producing    power — but    not    its    chemical    constituents : 
these  are  present  in  the  tightly  secured  storehouses  of  the 
land. 

9.  Crop  production  bears  a  close  relation  to  the  physi- 
cal nature  of  the  soil — the  humus  content,  the  texture, 
the  air  and  water  circulation,  the  nature  of  the  earthy 
material,  the  previous  treatment  given  it;  but  no  correct 
estimate  can  be  made  from  the  chemical  analysis  of  the 
soil  alone. 

10.  Chemical  analysis  can  be  interpreted  only  in  con- 
nection with  group  or  type  surveys,  reenforced  by  broad 
observations  in  the  field,  and  modified  by  climatic  condi- 
tions, commercial  opportunities,  and  the  temperament  of 
the  operator. 


CHAPTER  X 
THE  ROLE  THAT  TILLAGE  PLAYS 

Just  when  man  began  the  improvement  of  soils  by 
means  of  tillage  tools  we  do  not  know,  nor  do  we  know 
the  kind  of  tools  that  were  first  employed. 

This,  however,  we  know:  the  first  written  evidence  of 
civilization  includes  in  its  work  simple  tillage  operations 
that  the  fruits  of  the  field  might  be  increased.  The  first 
simple  tool  may  have  been  a  shell  from  the  sea,  or  a 
pointed  stone  from  the  mountain  side,  or  it  may  have  been 
a  sharpened  stick ;  it  matters  not,  for  in  time  these  and 
other  kinds  were  succeeded  by  the  crooked  stick,  fastened 
to  the  horn  of  a  bull,  perhaps,  which  in  time  became 
modified,  and  developed  into  the  modern  tools  of  tillage. 

Nature  tills  the  land. — While  we  often  think  Nature 
neither  tills  nor  cultivates  her  fields,  we  forget  that  every 
force  she  has  at  work  is  actually  performing  just  these 
very  things.  For  what  are  the  freezing  and  the 
thawing — the  heaving  of  the  surface — but  tillage  opera- 
tions ;  what  are  the  crumbling  and  tearing  and  breaking  by 
air  and  water  but  simple  forms  of  tillage ;  what  are  the 
channels,  made  by  earthworms  and  other  animals  that 
burrow  in  the  earth,  but  plowing  of  another  order;  what 
are  the  deposits  of  silt,  left  from  overflowing  waters,  but 
new  earth,  ready  for  newly  laid  seeds,  as  rich  and  effec- 
tive as  that  turned  by  plow  or  any  cultivating  tool ;  what 
are  the  roots  that  work  their  way  deep  into  the  soil  but 
vegetable  tools  of  tillage ;  what  are  these — one  and  all 
of  them — but  plows  and  harrows  and  hoes,  which  Nature 
uses  for  preparing  the  land  for  new  seeds,  for  new  crops? 


'  m 


'?  !P-     \          i 

,A       \       i-  - 


r 


: 


ALFALFA  R(K)TS — VEGETABLE  TILLAGE  TOOLS 
A  wonderful  soil-maker  at  work.    Sec  how  deeply  the  roots  godown  in  the  soil 


90  SOILS 

Nature  Works  Slowly. — Of  course,  Nature's  tools  are 
not  meant  for  fast-working  man :  too  much,  now,  is  re- 
quired of  the  producing  power  of  lands  for  modern  men 
to  depend  upon  these  ancient,  these  earliest  forms  of  til- 
lage. Nor  are  meant  for  our  use  to-day  the  ancient 
forms  designed  by  the  early  man :  the  crooked  stick  has 
been  displaced ;  the  wooden  plow  and  the  wooden  harrow 
have  disappeared ;  so,  also,  all  ancient,  out-of-date  tools 
and  implements  for  every  purpose  have  been  replaced  by 
kinds  more  suited  to  the  needs  and  the  demands  of  pres- 
ent-day requirements. 

Tillage  not  a  modern  practice. — Nor  must  we  for  a 
moment  believe  that  tillage  is  a  modern  discovery.  For 
it  is  not:  it  is  as  old  as  the  practice  of  putting  seed  into 
the  soil  by  cunning  animal  or  man.  It  is  a  part  of  every 
civilization :  of  the  ancient  Chinese,  of  the  Egyptians, 
of  the  Greeks,  of  the  Romans,  of  the  Britons ;  it  is  older 
than  history,  even  older  than  civilization. 

Jethro  Tull  the  father  of  modern  tillage. — The  first 
impetus  given  modern  tillage  that  has  not  yet  abated 
had  its  origin  with  Jethro  Tull,  who  set  forth  in  1733,  in 
his  book  "New  Horse-Hoeing  Husbandry,"  his  ideas  re- 
garding the  value  of  simple  tillage  for  the  purpose  of 
fining  the  land.  His  entire  philosophy  was  built  on  these 
premises :  that  plants  secure  food  through  absorption 
of  the  fine  earthy  particles ;  that  as  the  numbers  of  these 
are, increased  in  the  soil,  so  is  increased  its  productivity; 
and,  consequently,  that  the  maximum  growth  of  plants 
will  result  when  the  earth  has  been  made  fine.  Neither 
the  wise  farmer  nor  the  critical  scientist  can  find  fault 
with  this  system  of  tillage,  for  it  is  the  basis  of  all  good 
farming  to-day.  The  fault  is  not  with  the  system,  but 
with  the  explanation,  for  plants  do  not  absorb  by  means 
of  their  roots  the  fine  particles  of  earth,  as  Tull  and  his 


THE  ROLE  THAT  TILLAGE  PLAYS  QI 

disciples  believed.  On  the  other  hand,  they  do  this :  they 
use  only  soluble  substances  such  as  are  dissolved  by  the 
water  of  the  soil,  and  not  the  components  that  contain  the 
elements  of  food,  but  the  elements  that  are  dissolved 
out  of  the  earthy  constituents.  Hence,  stirring  the  land 
by  tillage  is  helpful  only  in  increasing  the  available  food 


A   GOOD    JOB    OF    PLOWING 

It  is  a  good  plan  to  use  the  harrow  while  the  soil  is  still  fresh  and  moist — just  after 
plowing.    Then  less  effort  will  be  necessary  in  preparing  the  seed  bed 


by  allowing  soil  water  and  air  freer  access  throughout 
the  soil  so  that  they  may  more  easily  and  more  readily  do 
their  work. 

Now,  these  things  being  true,  no  particle,  no  matter 
how  small  it  may  be,  ever  enters  into  the  roots  of  plants. 
Hence,  tillage  is  not  a  direct  source  of  plant  food:  it  is 
not  additional  nutriment:  it  is,  on  the  other  hand,  the 


Q2  SOILS 

stimulant  that  induces  plant  food  to  seek  solubility  rather 
than  to  remain  concealed  with  the  components  that  are 
useless  as  nutriment  for  plants. 

The  role  that  tillage  plays. — Every  one  who  tills  the 
land,  knows  that  tillage  favors  the  act  and  increases  the 
productivity  of  soils.  The  proof  of  this  is  furnished 
wherever  thorough  work  with  the  plow  and  harrow  are 
done ;  wherever  the  soil  is  opened  or  stirred  by  any  tool 
of  any  sort ;  wherever  the  soil  is  loosened  or  fined,  or 
mellowed,  by  means  of  any  description  the  soil  will  yield 
forth  its  fat  in  the  crops  produced  thereby. 

Tillage  does  its  work  in  many  ways,  the  important  ones 
being: 

1.  The  increase  of  available  plant  food. 

2.  The  beneficial   effects   that  result  in  a   mechanical 
way. 

3.  The  assistance  rendered  chemical  changes. 

4.  The  increase  of  the  water-absorbing  and  retaining 
content  of  the  soil. 

5.  The  destruction  of  weeds  through  tillage. 
Available  plant  food  is  increased. — Since  large  stores 

of  potential  plant  food  exist  in  the  soil,  they  should  be 
called  into  active  use;  and  they  may  be  so  called,  if 
effort  is  directed  in  the  right  way,  that  the  qualities  mak- 
ing them  unattractive  to  plant  roots  may  be  eliminated. 
Only  soluble  food  finds  favor  with  plants;  they  reject  all 
other  sorts.  It  is  the  role  of  tillage  to  secure  soluble  plant 
food,  to  put  hitherto  insoluble  substances  into  available 
forms,  to  insure  stability  in  the  food  stores,  and,  even  to 
increase,  the  normal  supply. 

Beneficial  mechanical  effects. — The  soil  is  the  real 
home  of  the  plant ;  there  the  roots  grow  and  gather  food. 
Any  agency  that  renders  this  home  more  attractive  and 
comfortable,  that  increases  the  ease  with  which  roots 


THE  ROLE  THAT  TILLAGE  PLAYS  93 

may  gather  their  substances,  that  opens  the  lower  depths 
for  less  laborious  descent,  that  enlarges  the  pasture 
grounds  for  feeding  roots,  favors  plant  growth  and  in- 
duces larger  crops  on  the  land  so  treated. 

Soils  that  are  hard,  compact  and  lifeless,  through  til- 
lage, may  be  opened,  mellowed  and  restored  to  life.     Any 


PLOWED  FOR  THE  FIRST  TIME 
The  plow  enlarges  the  pasture  grounds  for  feeding-roots 

system  of  tillage  that  loosens  and  lightens  such  soils,  im- 
proves their  texture.  And  poor  texture  means  poor,  un- 
inviting, uncomfortable  homes,  in  which  few,  if  any, 
plants  can  prosper.  Good  tillage  offers  much  available 
food,  warm,  comfortable  homes,  inviting  living  environ- 
ments, and  pleasant  quarters  in  which  tiny  roots  may 
live. 

When  soils,  by  nature,  are  loose  and  open,  they  may 
be  benefited  by  tillage  tools  that  firm  and  compact  the 
surface  soil.  Thus,  often  the  roller  is  desirable  for  just 
this  purpose:  to  press  the  particles  together  that  the 
interspaces  may  be  lessened  and  the  particles,  themselves, 
compacted  thereby.  This  practice  induces  capillarity, 


94 


SOILS 


and  secures  a  freer  movement  of  soil  water  from  the  lower 
regions  to  the  surface  layer  above. 

The  assistance  rendered  chemical  changes. — The  ways 
through  which  tillage  increases  the  amount  of  available 
plant  food  elements  are : 

1.  The  effect  on  place  and  movement  of  soil  particles. 

2.  The  entrance  of  the  silent  soil  makers — air,  water, 
etc. 


EFFECT   OF    PLOWING    WET   LAND 

This  is  ordinarily  an  easily  cultivated  field.      It  is  now  ruined  for  some  time 

to  come 


3.  The  mixing  of  humus  and  other  soil  components. 

4.  The  freer  movement  of  salts  and  gases. 

5.  The  influence  of  tillage  on  microscopic  life. 
When  soil  particles  are  moved  from  the  place  they  have 

occupied  for  some  time,  and  brought  into  contact  with 


THE  ROLE  THAT  TILLAGE  PLAYS  95 

other  particles  of  a  different  nature,  chemical  changes  are 
provoked  through  the  interchanges  of  the  chemical  ele- 
ments of  the  many  soil  compounds.  The  interchange  of 
acids  and  gases  always  is  taking  place  in  the  soil,  but  it  is 
most  active  when  a  disarrangement  of  soil  particles  has 
occurred. 

Since  oxygen  is  such  an  active  element,  combining 
freely  with  elements  in  all  sorts  of  substances,  it  follows 
that  when  air  is  allowed  entrance — and  tillage  allowed  to 
rule — chemical  action  and  change  most  actively  takes 
place. 

A  sure  way  to  injure  the  soil  is  to  saturate  it  with  water 
or  by  tramping  to  exclude  the  air:  you  lessen  the  activity 
of  the  chemical  agents :  you  retard  the  making  of  plant 
food  available. 

Whenever  humus  decays  in  the  soil,  the  adjoining 
particles  are  affected,  and,  in  a  measure,  at  least,  decay  or 
rot.  These  break  into  simple  compounds:  they  come 
nearer  to  the  nature  of  plant  food.  Hence,  when  you 
incorporate  humus  in  the  soil,  you  add  a  plant  food  mat- 
rial  to  the  soil  and  supply,  at  the  same  time,  a  forcefully- 
working  agent  that  makes  available  stubborn  food  con- 
stituents. 

Tillage  permits  better  diffusion  of  salts  and  gases,  and 
other  changes  closely  allied  thereto,  and  influences  fa- 
vorably the  decomposition  of  earth  and  earthy  materials. 

The  microscopic  life  of  the  soil  is  influenced  to  a 
marked  degree  by  tillage  and  its  resulting  effect  upon  the 
chemical  nature  of  the  soil.  In  connection  with  the  nitro- 
gen element  we  have  the  denitrifying  bacteria  which  lib- 
erate nitrogen  into  the  air,  and  the  nitrifying  bacteria  that 
change  nitrogen  compounds  of  the  soil  into  nitrates,  the 
form  that  plants  use  most  eagerly.  The  first  kind  is  in- 
fluenced by  tillage  in  this  manner:  wherever  poor  aera- 


0/5  SOILS 

tion  prevails,  the  denitrifying  bacteria  are  most  abundant 
and  active ;  hence,  there  is  a  constant  loss  of  nitrogen 
from  the  soil — something  certainly  most  undesirable. 

Poor  tillage,  bad  aeration,  and  improper  physical  treat- 
ment are  favorable  to  the  denitrifying  bacteria  but  un- 
favorable to  the  nitrifying  bacteria. 

Good  tillage  retards  the  action  of  the  harmful  bacteria 
and  at  the  same  time  accelerates  the  working  of  the 
beneficial  ones — a  most  important  reason  why  tillage 
never  should  be  neglected. 

The  increase  of  the  water-holding  content  of  the  soil. — 
Tillage  assists  soils  in  securing  and  in  holding  water  in 
the  following  ways :  By  opening  the  surface  crust  so  that 
water  may  enter  the  soil  more  freely,  and  by  hastening 
percolation  that  the  subsoil  may  receive  more  water. 

When  the  surface  crust  has  been  opened  by  tillage 
tools,  water  finds  lodgment  until  it  gradually  sinks  into 
the  soil, — a  most  excellent  way  of  preserving  what  might 
be  lost  otherwise.  Tight-bound  soils,  with^  unbroken  sur- 
faces, secure  no  great  amount  of  water,  often  not  enough 
for  its  many  needs.  Soils,  like  the  stiff  clays,  are  enabled 
to  secure  much  more  water  and  to  hold  it  also,  if  subsoiled 
and  fall-plowed.  Indeed,  this  is  a  splendid  treatment  to 
give  such  lands,  although  subsoiling  is  quite  costly. 

Of  course,  tight-bound  soils  that  have  little  air  space 
in  them,  and  whose  particles  are  closely  pressed  together, 
permit  slow  descent  only  to  all  water  passing  downward. 
This  is  a  condition  certainly  not  desirable,  and  may  be 
remedied  and  improved  in  this  respect  by  deep-stirring 
agencies  that  open  and  stir  and  mellow  at  depths  not 
reached  by  ordinary  surface  tillage.  Our  leguminous 
plants  are  wonderful  helpers  in  this  difficulty. 

It  is  also  important  to  have  the  soil  mellow  and  fine, 
thereby  increasing  both  the  number  of  particles  in  the 


THE  ROLE  THAT  TILLAGE  PLAYS  97 

soil  and  amount  of  spaces  between  these  particles. 
When  these  things  are  done,  water  more  freely  enters 
and  more  of  it  is  retained  than  otherwise  would  be  the 
case  were  these  conditions  not  to  be  had. 

Tillage  gets  rid  of  weeds. — Good  farming  can  never  be 
of  high  quality  if  weeds  are  allowed  to  have  their  way ; 
and  they  certainly  have  their  way  whenever  tillage  is 
neglected  or  whenever  plows  and  harrows  and  cultivating 
tools  are  not  constantly  and  consistently  used. 

Why  are  weeds  a  menace  to  farming?  For  these  rea- 
sons :  They  steal  from  the  soil  food  that  should  be  kept 
and  preserved  for  cultivated  plants ;  they  rob  the  soil  of 
its  water,  that  should  be  held  for  useful  plants ;  they 
crowd  growing  plants  to  their  hurt  (improved  plants  are 
less  hardy  than  weeds,  for  the  latter  have  inherited  the 
ability  to  shift  for  themselves)  ;  they  shade  the  land, 
which  works  injury  to  many  varieties  which  need  all  the 
warmth  and  sunshine  they  can  get.  For  these  reasons, 
weeds  are  a  menace  to  cultivated  crops  and  for  these 
reasons  they  should  be  driven  from  the  land. 

Since  food  and  drink  are  objects  of  constant  thought 
and  solicitude  and  require  you  to  labor  day  in  and  day 
out  so  to  treat  the  soil  that  both  may  be  amply  pro- 
vided, why  should  weeds  be  spared  :  why  consider  them 
in  any  other  light  than  enemies  of  the  disagreeable  and 
hateful  sort? 

Here  is  an  example:  A  field  plante-1  to  corn  was  divided 
into  two  sections:  on  one  section,  after  the  second  week, 
weeds  were  allowed  to  grow,  to  contest  with  the  corn  for 
supremacy:  from  the  first  section  82  bushels  of  shelled 
corn  for  each  acre  were  harvested,  and  from  the  second 
section  17  bushels.  The  difference  represented  the  hurt- 
ful effects  of  the  weed  plants  that  grew  in  the  corn. 

Here  are  just  a  few  thoughts  to  remember: 


98  SOILS 

Stir  the  soil  thoughtfully  and  continually,  and  it  gathers 
in  the  rains  to  make  abundant  growth  of  plants  when 
summer's  heat  and  drought  are  come ;  plow  the  land 
earnestly,  and  it  gives  its  fat  with  gladness  and  with 
bounty ;  open  the  bosom  of  the  soil  with  the  plowshare, 
and  health  comes  to  the  land  and  wealth  to  the  operator ; 
spare  cultivated  fields  the  disgrace  of  ravaging  weeds,  and 
golden  grain  and  bountiful  harvests  come  as  rewards ; 
fine  and  mellow  the  earth,  and  luxuriant  vegetation  glad- 
dens the  heart  and  rests  the  eye ;  till  and  always  till  with 
skillful  hand  and  eye,  and  Nature  deeds  her  gifts — success 
and  prosperity  and  joy. 


CHAPTER  XI 
LIMING  THE  LAND:  A  CORRECTIVE  FOR  ACIDITY 

The  use  of  lime  in  agriculture,  especially  its  use  as  a 
soil  improver,  was  known  in  days  of  long  ago:  when 
Rome  was  young,  and  Greece  was  struggling  for  the  su- 
premacy of  the  world.  For  Hesiod,  the  Greek,  mentions 
its  use  in  his  writings,  and  Cato  and  Pliny,  keen  Roman 
observers,  frequently  discussed  its  importance  in  securing 
the  productiveness  of  the  soil.  In  America,  this  same  ob- 
servation has  not  been  wanting.  For  more  than  a  century 
in  time,  lime,  as  a  soil  improver,  has  been  advocated  by 
successful  farmers  and  planters,  who,  realizing  its  value 
in  the  early  agriculture  of  the  country,  gave  it  effectual 
and  constant  trial,  to  their  satisfaction  and  profit. 

The  kinds  of  agricultural  lime. — The  real  source  of  lime 
is  in  rock  formation :  out  of  these  formations  agricultural 
limes  are  obtained.  The  following  forms  are  common : 
limestone  rock,  magnesia  limestone,  gypsum  or  land  plas- 
ter, marl,  and  oyster-shells. 

Ordinary  limestone  contains  about  fifty  per  cent,  lime, 
the  remaining  substances  being  carbonic  acid,  silicon, 
iron,  magnesium,  and  aluminum.  When  burned,  the 
product  resulting  and  known  as  lime  is  nearly  pure,  and 
weighs  about  ninety  pounds  to  the  bushel.  When  water 
slaked,  this  amount  increases  to  three  times  the  original 
weight. 

Magnesia  limestones  vary  in  composition,  the  best  of 
them  containing  about  eighty  per  cent,  of  lime.  Mag- 
nesia lime  may  be  substituted  for  ordinary  lime  as  a 


TOO  SOILS 


corrective  agent  for  acidity,  but  it  should  not  be  used  re- 
peatedly on  the  same  land. 


LIMED 

Note  the  dense,  vigorous  growth  of  clover,  almost  completely  hiding  the 
wheat  stubble 

Gypsum  is  found  in  large  deposits,  and  is  rock-like  in 
form.    For  commercial  purposes,  after  being  mined,  it  is 


T7NLIMED 
The  stubbles  were  not  hid  by  the  clover  at  the  end  of  the  season 

ground  into  a  fine  powder,  a  form  in  which  it  is  best 
fitted  for  use.     Although  gypsum  contains  about  thirty 


LIMING   THE   LAND  IOI 

per  cent,  of  lime,  you  should  not  substitute  it  for  ordi- 
nary lime  for  correcting  acidity  in  soils.  Its  effect  is 
rather  stimulative,  aiding  in  setting  free  other  plant 
foods,  notably  potash. 

Lime  is  found,  also,  in  earthy  shell  deposits — known  as 
marls.  These  occur  only  in  lake  and  ocean  regions,  and 
for  this  reason  they  are  little  used  outside  of  the  immedi- 
ate locality  in  which  they  are  found.  In  composition, 
marls  vary  greatly :  from  10  to  50  per  cent,  of  lime  being 
available. 

Oyster  shells,  also,  are  lime  makers.  They  contain 
about  ninety  per  cent,  of  lime,  which,  when  burned,  is 
comparatively  pure.  Gas  lime,  now  sold  extensively  as  an 
agricultural  lime,  occurs  in  this  way :  quick  lime  is  used 
in  gas  works  for  the  sole  purpose  of  taking  from  the  gas 
its  many  impurities.  When  saturated,  and  hence  no 
longer  useful,  it  is  sent  away  under  the  name  of  gas  lime, 
to  be  used  as  a  fertilizer  for  soils.  Gas  lime  contains,  on 
an  average  of  about  forty  per  cent,  of  lime.  Since  gas 
lime  is  often  poisonous,  it  is  not  desirable  for  the  land. 

What  lime  does  in  the  soil. — When  applied  to  land, 
lime  acts  in  these  ways:  it  induces  chemical  activity, 
causes  physical  change,  usually  favorably,  and  supplies  a 
plant  food  element — calcium.  In  reference  to  the  last,  let 
this  be  said :  little  evidence  points  to  any  conclusion  that 
lime  is  lacking  in  most  soils  to  such  an  extent  that  any 
additional  supply  is  needed  for  food  requirements.  While 
it  is  true  that  some  investigators  have  been  led  to  believe 
the  reverse  of  this,  still  their  contention  is  far  from  being 
proved,  and,  until  fully  demonstrated,  we  shall  look  for 
the  explanation  of  its  beneficial  qualities  as  being  in  the 
direction  of  the  chemical  and  the  physical  changes  that 
take  place,  occasioned  by  its  presence  in  the  soil. 

How  lime  acts  chemically. — First  in  importance  are  its 


IO2  SOILS 

decomposing  effects  on  the  mineral  substances  of  the  soil. 
It  has  been  shown  by  experiment  that  lime  decomposes 
certain  compounds  in  the  soil,  thereby  releasing  stored 
plant  food.  This  is  especially  true  of  potassium  com- 
pounds secured  in  the  soil  silicates.  When  lime  is  added 
to  the  soil,  these  silicates  are  decomposed  and  the  potas- 
sium therein  is  rendered  available — plant  roots  are  served 
what  heretofore  has  been  denied.  You  should  bear  in 
mind,  however,  that  lime  has  no  power  for  supplying 
potassium :  it  renders  available  only  such  material  as  al- 
ready is  present  in  the  soil. 

Lime  works  in  harmony  with  the  phosphorus  com- 
pounds of  the  soil,  also.  It  does  so  in  this  manner:  Solu- 
ble phosphorus  combines  freely  with  other  elements — 
iron  and  aluminum,  for  instance.  But  these  are  undesir- 
able compounds  for  the  reason  that  they  are  insoluble, 
and  consequently  plants  reject  them  as  food.  Lime,  on 
the  other  hand,  attracts  the  soluble  phosphorus  more 
energetically  than  does  iron  or  aluminum,  and  so  helps 
the  plant  because  the  plant  fancies  the  products  that  lime 
and  phosphorus  together  make.  Now,  this  is  a  good 
reason  why  lime  should  be  given  freely  to  the  soil. 

You  will  find,  also,  that  lime  is  an  extremely  valuable 
agent  in  helping  the  decomposition  of  organic  matter  in 
the  soil.  While  organic  matter  is  useful  and  a  necessary 
component  of  every  good  soil,  still  we  must  not  forget 
that  much  valuable  plant  food  is  stored  in  this  organic 
matter,  and  that  a  part  of  it,  at  least,  should  be  turned 
over  to  plants  each  year,  its  replacement  to  take  place 
subsequently  by  other  and  additional  donations.  Much 
of  the  nitrogen  content  of  the  soil  is  obtained  through  this 
destruction  of  organic  matter.  Hence,  it  is  well  to  keep 
this  supply  in  mind. 

Lime  promotes  good  texture. — With  old  soils,  espe- 


LIMING   THE   LAND  IO3 

cially,  perhaps  because  the  humus  has  been  destroyed, 
the  soil  texture  is  bad;  plowing  is  done  with  difficulty; 
overturned  earth  is  hard,  lifeless,  and  inactive;  air  and 
water  are  treated  \vith  indifference.  The  consequence  is : 
poor  crops  are  produced.  When  lime  is  supplied  these 
soils  in  sufficient  quantities,  what  a  wonderful  change 
takes  place!  At  once  the  soils  mellow:  they  lose  their 
gruffness,  their  sourness,  their  bad  behavior:  they  show 
greater  vigor,  life  becomes  apparent  again,  plants  are 
attracted,  and  more :  air  and  water  are  differently  re- 
ceived, their  wholesome  influence  appreciated,  and  their 
offer  of  service  accepted. 

Lime  influences  soil  particles. — Just  as  soon  as  lime  is 
supplied  the  soil,  a  change  takes  place  in  the  position  of 
soil  particles :  they  "flocculate" :  they  gather  together  in 
little  balls.  Now,  this  is  just  what  is  needed  in  order  to 
make  these  tiny  particles  behave  in  such  a  manner  that 
air  and  water  will  be  so  attracted  that  both  will  be  willing 
to  move  freely  about  in  the  soil,  to  the  advantage  of  the 
soil  itself,  and  to  the  advantage  of  plant  roots  that  are 
living  there. 

When  a  condition  like  this  is  secured,  extremes  of  dry 
or  wet  weather  will  influence  the  soil  in  a  much  less 
degree  than  otherwise  would  be  the  case,  were  it  soil- 
bound,  inactive,  and  lifeless.  It  is  stated  that  one  part  of 
lime  is  able  to  flocculate  and  clear  10,000  parts  of  muddy 
water.  You  can  understand  readily  the  effectiveness  of 
an  entire  ton  of  lime  in  the  average  soil  which  weighs  in 
its  surface  six  inches  but  900  tons  per  acre. 

Lime  is  a  corrective  for  acidity. — One  of  the  most 
wholesome  influences  that  lime  brings  to  the  soil  is  its 
sweetening  effect :  its  driving  away  of  sourness — the  acid 
condition  of  the  soil.  \Yhcn  decomposition  is  taking  place 
in  the  soil,  acid  substances  are  formed  and  so  remain. 


IO4  SOILS 

unless  they  are  able  to  combine  with  other  substances 
that  eliminate  or  render  impotent  this  acid  effect.  We 
have  a  number  of  substances  that  can  be  used  to  correct 
this  acidity,  among  which  may  be  mentioned  lime  and 
wood  ashes.  Both  of  these  substances  are  good,  but  lime 
is  usually  the  cheapest,  the  most  available  and  easiest  to 
apply ;  hence,  its  use  as  a  corrective  for  acidity  is  most 
often  mentioned.  Soils  most  likely  to  be  found  sour  are : 
heavy  clay  soils,  when  poorly  drained;  soils  abundantly 
supplied  with  organic  matter ;  soils  that  have  been  poorly 
tilled,  and  consequently  air-hungered ;  and  soils  deficient 
in  humus  but  kept  at  work  by  mineral  substances,  like 
kainit,  muriate  of  potash,  and  acid  phosphate.  When  lime 
is  applied  to  soils  of  such  nature,  its  wholesome  influence 
is  manifest  at  once.  In  this  connection  the  beneficial  in- 
fluence of  lime  on  the  availability  of  nitrogen  is  of  inter- 
est. It  has  been  shown  by  Wheeler  at  the  Rhode  Island 
Station  that  lime  exerts  a  direct  benefit  to  plant  growth 
by  overcoming  soil  acidity,  and  in  doing  so,  increases  the 
assimilability  of  the  soil  nitrogen.  Hence,  we  have  an 
improvement  of  the  physical  condition  of  the  soil  and 
also  an  increase  in  availability  of  plant  nutrition. 

How  acidity  may  be  detected. — Does  your  soil  look  sad 
and  sickly?  If  so,  it  may  need  lime.  Does  your  soil  fail 
to  produce  vigorous  growth  and  good  color  in  the  plants 
it  grows?  If  so,  it  probably  needs  lime.  Does  your  soil 
show  acidity  when  tested?  If  so,  it  truly  needs  lime. 

Suppose  you  try  this  method  for  detecting  acidity :  Get 
a  penny's  worth  of  blue  litmus  paper  at  the  drug  store. 
Dig  from  the  field  a  handful  of  wet  earth  that  looks  sus- 
picious ;  into  this  insert  your  knife  blade,  and  in  the  open- 
ing put  a  strip  of  the  blue  litmus  paper,  and  press  the  soil 
tightly  about  it.  If  sour,  in  a  short  time  the  paper,  where 
in  contact  with  the  moist  soil,  will  become  reddish  in 


LIMING   THE   LAND  IO5 

color  and  you  may  know  that  your  soil  is  sour  and  that 
lime  is  needed  as  a  corrective  for  the  acidity,  for  the 
reason  that  most  of  our  plants  do  but  poorly  in  acid 
soils. 

How  lime  may  be  applied. — A  common  way  that  is 
practicable  and  inexpensive  is  to  place  from  10  to  25 
bushels  of  lime  on  an  acre,  in  heaps  of  two  or  three 


USING  THE  LIME  SPREADER 
As  soon  as  the  lime  is  applied  it  should  be  harrowed  into  the  soil 

bushels,  covering  with  soil  or  old  sacks  until  the  lime 
falls  apart  and  becomes  thoroughly  slaked.  This  done, 
you  should  spread  evenly  over  the  soil  and  harrow  in. 

A  more  satisfactory  method  is  to  slake  by  means  of 
water,  and  as  soon  as  in  a  powdery  state,  apply  to  the 
land  and  at  once  incorporate  with  the  soil,  not  by  the 
plow,  for  that  places  it  too  deep  in  the  soil,  but  by  some 
surface-working  harrow  or  cultivator. 


io6  SOILS 

The  lime-spreading  machine  now  does  very  excellent 
work,  and  has  been  so  improved  that  it  will  very  likely 
supersede  all  other  methods  of  applying  lime  to  the  soil. 
It  has  this  point  in  its  favor:  the  work  can  be  done 
quickly  ;  it  can  be  done  while  lime  is  still  in  a  fresh  state 
and  before  it  loses  its  active  properties.  And  here  is  an- 
other fact  you  should  remember :  incorporate  lime  into 
the  soil  by  means  of  a  harrow  as  soon  as  applied.  You 
will  make  a  mistake  if  you  wait  for  a  rain,  for  it  may  be 
long  in  coming.  Unless  a  very  heavy  rain  falls,  so  as  to 
carry  the  lime  applied  into  the  soil,  you  will  likely  lose 
much  of  its  value,  since  it  readily  returns  to  its  carbonate 
nature — its  state  before  it  was  burned  when  locked  in 
store. 

How  much  lime  to  use?  How  frequently? — Sand  soils 
are  influenced  most  favorably  by  rather  small  applications 
of  lime;  say,  from  200  to  1,000  pounds  per  acre  of  slaked 
lime  and  twice  the  quantity  if  either  ground  limestone  or 
ashes  are  used.  It  is  believed  that  slaked  lime  long  ex- 
posed to  the  air  is  best  for  sand  soils.  Larger  applications 
of  lime  may  be  given  clay  soils — from  400  to  2,000  pounds. 
For  such  soils,  burned  limestone  and  water-slaked  lime 
are  preferred,  usually,  before  either  ashes  or  ground  lime- 
stone. 

Lime  may  be  applied  every  five  or  six  years,  using  it 
before  the  crop  in  the  rotation  that  is  most  helped  by  the 
application. 

Lime  is  helpful  to  bacteria. — You  will  recall  the  fre- 
quent allusions  that  have  been  made  to  the  bacterial  life 
of  the  soil ;  to  the  presence  of  immense  quantities  of  those 
microscopic  plants  that  always  are  working  for  the  im- 
provement of  soils ;  that  plant  food  may  be  rendered 
available ;  that  air  nitrogen  may  be  gathered  in  and  se- 
cured for  on-coming  years;  that  the  entire  body  of  the 


LIMING   THE   LAND  IO7 

soil  may  be  bettered  and  improved.  But  do  you  know 
these  useful  kinds  are  active  only  when  the  soil  is  free  of 
acid,  or  is  neutral  in  its  reaction?  If  this  is  true,  then 
we  cannot  expect  these  good  fairies  of  the  soil  to  do 
their  work,  unless  we  do  our  part  and  get  rid  of  this  dis- 
tasteful enemy.  Our  legumes — root  tubercle  plants — 
quickly  disappear  from  any  soil  where  an  acid  condition 
prevails. 

Not  many  years  ago  we  heard  much  about  "clover  sick" 
soils.  We  know  more  about  these  now:  some  were  acid 
soils,  and  clover  disliked  them ;  root  tubercles  failed  to 
develop  because  the  bacteria  were  unable  to  thrive  or 
even  live  in  such  soils ;  and,  without  bacteria,  there  could 
be  no  formation  of  the  nodules,  and  without  the  nodules, 
there  could  be  no  vigorous  growth  of  the  clover  plant. 
Just  as  soon  as  lime  was  used  freely  enough  to  correct 
the  acid  condition,  bacteria  returned  to  these  lands  and 
the  clover  plant  prospered  as  it  had  done  in  former  days, 
when  the  land  was  sweet  and  wholesome,  and  filled  with 
an  abundance  of  vegetable  matter. 

If  it  is  your  plan  to  employ  leguminous  crops  in  your 
system  of  farming,  so  that  needed  nitrogen  may  be 
secured  fully  and  without  cost  to  you,  it  will  be  to  your 
profit  and  advantage  to  guard  against  an  acid  condition 
of  your  lands  ;  for  the  tiny  forms  of  plant  life  that  multiply 
and  grow  and  develop  in  the  soil  are  the  direct  means  of  in- 
creasing the  yields  of  the  useful  crops  that  grow  out  of  it. 


CHAPTER  XII 
THE  QUEST  OF  NITROGEN 

With  the  closing  of  each  decade,  some  new  discovery 
has  been  given  the  world,  some  new  thought  has  been 
launched  that  has  borne  its  fruit  e'er  Time  went  far  on 
his  journey  again.  It  has  been  so  in  science  and  it  is  so 
in  agriculture. 

Men  are  ever  seekers  after  truth.  Their  quest  has  been 
for  it  throughout  all  time,  and  in  every  direction.  As  a 
result  of  this  quest,  philosophy  is  the  better,  art  is  the 
better,  government  is  the  better,  science  is  the  better,  law 
is  the  better,  and  all  men  are  the  better. 

The  quest  of  truth  has  gone  on  from  the  very  beginning 
of  time ;  it  has  led  out  in  every  imaginable  direction.  But 
the  surprise  of  many  is  this :  the  postponement  of  the 
pursuit  of  the  practical  until  recent  periods  in  human 
progress.  Especially  has  this  been  true  of  the  practical 
arts,  and  of  agriculture.  And  yet  all  the  while  the  world 
has  been  dependent  upon  the  soil  for  its  bread,  for  its 
raiment,  for  its  shelter ;  and  back  of  these  is  the  control- 
ling influence  of  the  nitrogen  of  the  soil. 

The  quest  of  nitrogen  is  of  comparatively  recent  times ; 
but  once  its  story  learned  and  its  truth  established,  the 
solution  of  its  mystery  becomes  a  most  valuable  contribu- 
tion to  crop  production  and  to  soil  maintenance,  as  well 
as  a  most  powerful  force  in  a  new  agriculture. 

Farming  in  a  broad  way,  now,  is  being  built  upon  the 
legumes :  the  tiller  of  the  soil  is  becoming  a  legume 
farmer.  This  state  of  affairs  has  resulted  in  recent  years, 
only ;  in  fact,  since  the  publication  in  1886  of  the 


THE    QUEST    OF    NITROGEN  IOQ 

researches  of  Hellriegel  and  Wilfarth,  who  set  forth  with 
a  great  array  of  facts  the  way  in  which  nitrogen  is  ac- 
cumulated and  fixed  in  the  soil.  While  there  were  in- 
vestigators before  this  time  who  through  study  and 
research  had  got  an  inkling  of  the  true  secret,  they  could 
not  find  the  key  that  unlocked  it.  Since  the  door  was 
opened  by  these  agricultural  wealth-makers  an  abun- 
dance of  evidence  had  accumulated,  showing,  without  a 
shadow  of  doubt,  the  manner  in  which  the  stores  of  free 
nitrogen  of  the  air  are  utilized  in  plant  nutrition. 

The  free  nitrogen  of  the  air,  you  know,  is  not  available 
plant  food.  No  agricultural  plant  of  itself  can  secure  this 
air  element  for  its  use — not  a  wee  bit  of  it.  Of  course, 
many  men,  and  some  very  learned  men,  at  that,  believed 
in  the  early  days  just  the  opposite,  but  they  have  been 
proven  in  the  wrong,  and  at  last  the  true  solution  of  this 
knotty  problem  has  been  found,  and  solved  in  a  way  of 
the  highest  value  to  every  man  who  manages  land  and 
who  employs  the  methods  open  to  him,  that  his  poor- 
yielding  fields  may  be  restored  to  power,  and  their  fer- 
tility and  that  of  others  fully  maintained  in  respect  to 
nitrogen. 

The  story  of  the  secret's  discovery. — To  have  the  com- 
plete story  of  the  fixation  of  nitrogen,  we  shall  have  to  go 
back  quite  a  good  way  in  history ;  back  to  the  time  when 
chemistry  first  appeared  as  an  exact  science ;  back  to  the 
time  when  it  was  believed  that  all  plant  substances  came 
from  the  soil :  we  shall  have  to  go  back  to  these  clays,  in 
order  to  know  the  early  theories  of  plant  nutrition.  Only 
the  real  guide-mark  theories  will  be  introduced,  that  the 
development  of  the  idea  of  nitrogen  fixation  in  the  soil 
and  its  use  by  plants  may  be  clearly  understood. 

These  important  guide-mark  theories  are  as  follows: 

i.  That  all  plant-food  elements  come  from  the  soil. 


I IO  SOILS 

2.  That  nitrogen  is  secured  by  plants  through  the  ab- 
sorption of  soluble  organic  substances. 

3.  That  nitrogen  is  due  wholly  to  the  atmosphere :   the 
Liebig  "mineral  theory." 

4.  That  neither  legumes  nor  cereals  are  able  to  "fix"  the 
nitrogen  of  the  air. 

5.  That  leguminous  plants  get  their  nitrogen  from  the 
atmosphere  and  others  do  not. 

6.  That  the  soil,  aided  by  microscopic  vegetation,  gath- 
ers free  nitrogen  from  the  air. 

7.  That  bacteria  in  the  root  nodules  are  responsible  for 
the  fixation  of  nitrogen  and  the  transfer  of  it  to  the  plant. 

The  first  theory:  All  elements  came  from  the  soil. — 
Until  science  was  ready  to  devote  itself,  in  a  measure,  at 
least,  to  some  practical  problem,  like  a  study  of  soils, 
plants,  or  animals,  progress  could  be  slow  only,  and 
theory  of  little  value  save  in  a  most  indirect  way.  Until 
proof  might  be  furnished,  that  should  contain  a  grain  of 
fact  or  evidence  as  we  consider  such  to-day,  suggestions 
would  be  of  value,  only,  in  that  they  occasionally  worked 
in  sympathy  with  the  governing  law,  unknown  in  what 
manner  or  how,  to  the  author,  or  to  the  disciple  that  fol- 
lowed and  practiced  his  philosophy.  Evidence  in  these 
cases  were  coincidences,  only  and  of  no  further  value. 

The  second  theory :  Plants  absorb  soluble  organic  sub- 
stances.— The  theory  of  absorption,  in  the  light  of  knowl- 
edge on  these  subjects,  had  some  reasonableness  about 
it.  This  theory  declared  that  only  soluble  organic  sub- 
stances were  available  as  food  for  plants ;  that  as  such 
plants  secured  their  food ;  that  organic  substances  fur- 
nished not  only  the  nitrogen  but  aH  other  substances  as 
well.  And  to  a  certain  extent  these  ideas  were  correct. 
The  fault  of  this  theory  lay  in  its  incompleteness.  For 
the  mineral  supply  of  food  was  quite  overlooked:  only 


THE   QUEST   OF    NITROGEN  III 

soluble  organic  matter  influenced  crops'  growth.  This 
view  was  held  by  some  investigators — De  Saussure  par- 
ticularly advocating  it.  It  was  overthrown,  however, 
when  Liebig  proposed  his  mineral  theory. 

Liebig's  theory:  so-called  "mineral  theory." — The 
author  of  this  theory  was  the  real  beginner  in  chemistry, 
as  applied  to  things  agricultural.  He  worked  with  soils ; 
he  studied  many  agricultural  plants;  he  devoted  a  great 
part  of  his  useful  life  to  many  problems  of  plant  nutrition. 
His  theory  held  that  only  the  ash  or  mineral  substance 
used  by  plants  is  obtained  from  the  soil ;  that  the  carbon, 
as  well  as  the  nitrogen,  is  secured  by  the  plant  from  the 
atmosphere — the  great  storehouse  of  these  materials. 
Liebig  contended  that  when  mineral  substances  are  abun- 
dant, either  through  nature  or  through  other  supply, 
maximum  yields  will  result,  other  things  being  provided, 
regardless  of  the  quantity  of  potential  nitrogen  in  the 
soil.  He  further  claimed  that  if  an  abundance  of  the 
necessary  minerals  is  present,  the  plant  will  be  well  able 
to  take  care  of  itself,  and  by  its  own  efforts  secure  just 
as  much  nitrogen  as  is  required  from  the  nitrogen  com- 
pounds of  the  air  that  are  washed  down  in  rain,  snow  and 
hail,  as  is  required  for  every  need  of  the  plant.  For  did 
not  the  leguminous  plants  show  this?  He  thought  so.  If 
the  cereals  failed  to  do  likewise  in  soils  apparently  no 
worse,  it  was  solely  because  minerals  were  present  in- 
sufficiently to  supply  the  plant  with  its  requirements  ;  and, 
because  of  this  fact,  these  cereal  plants  were  rendered 
somewhat  impotent  in  their  ability  to  get  what  nitrogen 
they  needed.  This  mineral  theory  simply  meant  this : 
put  minerals  into  the  soil,  and  the  plant  will  be  strong  and 
vigorous,  and  quite  able  to  secure  its  nitrogen,  irrespect- 
ive of  the  supply  of  the  soil. 

The  theory  of  non-fixation :  no  plants  "fix"  atmospheric 


112  SOILS 

nitrogen. — Boussingault  already  had  shown,  even  before 
Liebig  had  formulated  and  promulgated  his  mineral  the- 
ory, that  there  were  considerable  differences  between 
yields  of  certain  groups  of  plants,  and  especially  that 
there  were  noticeable  differences  in  the  nitrogen  obtained, 
when  cereals  and  leguminous  crops  were  grown.  He  had 
ascertained,  also,  that  when  leguminous  crops  were  intro- 
duced, either  before  or  after  cereals  in  any  plan  of  rota- 
tion, a  greater  quantity  of  nitrogen  was  secured  during 
the  growth  of  the  leguminous  crop  than  during  the 
growth  of  any  cereal  crop,  and  this  was  the  case  when 
additional  manure  was  supplied. 

Liebig  was  led  at  this  time  to  revise  the  theory  he  had 
maintained  heretofore,  by  declaring  that  cereals  of  all 
kinds  must  secure  their  nitrogen  from  the  soils  or  from 
some  supplied  fertilizer  containing  this  element. 

At  this  stage  of  investigation  other  workers  came  into 
the  field,  notable  among  whom  were  Lawes  and  Gilbert 
in  England.  These  men  carried  on  experiments  quite 
similar  in  nature  to  those  of  Boussingault,  and  which 
seemed  to  show  that  the  only  source  of  nitrogen  supply  is 
from  the  soil ;  in  other  words,  that  no  cultivated  plant  is 
able  either  to  secure  free  nitrogen  of  the  air,  or  to  estab- 
lish it  in  the  soil  for  future  use.  It  is  able  to  secure  it  only 
as  it  does  mineral  elements:  from  the  compounds  of  the 
soil,  or  from  fertilizing  compounds  supplied  with  the  soil. 

The  theory  of  differences :  legumes  not  like  cereals  and 
others. — \\~hile  the  theory  of  non-fixation  of  atmospheric 
nitrogen  by  any  kind  of  plant  generally  prevailed  (until 
the  true  solution  was  given  by  Hellriegel  and  Wilfarth), 
still  there  were  some  among  the  workers  who  were  not 
satisfied ;  and  it  is  to  their  agitation  and  to  their  unwill- 
ingness to  accept  the  interpretations  of  the  results  that  all 
former  theories  were  proved  incorrect  and  the  truth  of 


THE    QUEST    OF    NITROGEN  113 

the  matter  finally  was  given  the  world.  These  men  were 
wide  observers :  they  included  the  field,  as  well  as  the 
laboratory,  the  fertile  soil  and  the  infertile  soil,  summer 
crops  and  winter  crops ;  they  sought  the  truth,  and  would 
not  be  comforted  so  long  as  a  single  doubt  remained.  For 
did  not  every  field  trial  show  that  the  legume  produced 


A    MAGNIFICENT    CROP    OF    BEANS 

Legumes  subsoil  the  land,  contribute  to  the  humus  stores  and  add  nitrogen  to 

the  soil 


abundantly,  although  in  these  same  soils  the  cereal  pro- 
duced indifferently?  Was  it  not  true  that  in  every  case 
where  a  legume  occupied  the  land  for  a  few  years,  when 
succeeded  by  a  cereal,  a  marked  increase  was  apparent 
over  similar  soil,  unoccupied  previously  by  some  crop  not 
a  legume?  So  spoke  Yoelcher  with  conviction:  the 


1 14  SOILS 

atmosphere  furnished  nitrogen  to  the  clover  plant.  So 
spoke  Ville :  the  free  nitrogen  of  the  atmosphere  becomes 
food  for  clover  and  for  some  other  plants. 

But  the  difference  was  not  explained,  for  at  that  time  it 
could  not  be  explained.  The  time  was  still  unripe. 

Enter  the  microscopic  plant :  soil  assistants  in  nitrogen- 
getting. — Now  comes  Berthelot,  a  French  investigator, 
with  the  theory  that  in  the  soil  there  are  great  numbers 
of  microscopic  plants,  living  in  the  soil  and  belonging  to 
the  soil,  in  fact,  being  a  part  of  the  soil  itself;  that  these 
are  useful  and  valuable  plants,  small  though  they  may  be ; 
and  that  these  tiny  plants  do  this  thing:  they  help  the 
soil  secure  atmospheric  nitrogen,  and  help  it  in  such  a 
way  that  all  plants  growing  therein  get  the  good  of  it. 
And  Berthelot  was  right  so  far  as  he  went,  for  he  started 
in  the  direction  in  which  the  true  explanation  was  later 
found. 

The  concluding  theory :  the  secret  of  the  root  tubercle. 
This  entire  mystery  was  cleared  at  last  by  Hellriegel  and 
Wilfarth,  who  found,  by  their  investigations,  that  certain 
plants,  like  cereals  and  grasses,  within  limits,  grow  in  pro- 
portion to  the  amount  of  plant  food  supplied — including 
nitrogen.  If  an  abundance  of  mineral  elements  and  nitro- 
gen was  supplied  the  soil,  there  was  secured  always  a 
most  bountiful  harvest;  if,  on  the  other  hand,  nitrogen, 
for  instance,  was  withheld,  a  feeble  growth,  only,  re- 
sulted, if,  indeed,  a  lingering  death  did  not  actually  take 
place. 

With  the  legumes — clover,  lupines,  peas,  beans,  etc. — a 
different  behavior  was  observed.  Instead  of  dying,  when 
the  nitrogen  content  was  consumed,  these  plants  recov- 
ered, very  rapidly,  indeed,  and  until  maturity,  maintained 
a  most  luxurious  growth.  And  this  condition  prevailed 
despite  the  fact  that  no  nitrogen  compound  of  any  sort 


THE    QUEST    OF    NITROGEN  115 

was  given  the  plants  or  added  to  the  soil,  either  before 
planting  or  during  any  stage  of  growth. 

These  observers  noticed  a  peculiarity — the  key  of  the 
secret — that  others,  also,  doubtless,  had  observed,  but 
who  failed  to  connect  the  same  to  the  theory  of  plant 
feeding  and  plant  growth.  The  peculiarity  which  they 
included  in  their  studies  was  the  characteristic  growths  or 
nodules  that  persistently  associated  themselves  with  the 
roots  of  every  leguminous  plant. 

A  final  proof  of  their  theory  was  secured  in  this  way : 
They  used  sand  that  had  been  made  sterile  in  every  way : 
all  organic  matter  was  destroyed,  and,  of  course,  every 
kind  of  microscopic  vegetation  was  killed — no  bacterium 
of  any  kind  was  present  in  the  soil.  Some  legume  seeds 
were  now  planted.  Just  as  soon  as  the  nitrogen  of  the 
seed  was  exhausted,  starvation  manifested  itself,  and  the 
plants  began  their  decline.  At  this  point,  a  water  extract 
prepared  from  untreated  soil — just  ordinary  garden  soil — 
was  added,  but  only  a  small  quantity  was  used.  In  a  very 
short  time  these  starving  plants  began  their  improve- 
ment :  they  recovered  their  wholesome,  natural  color,  as- 
sumed a  vigorous,  lusty  growth,  and  reached  full  de- 
velopment, with  no  suggestion  from  that  time  on  that  any 
struggle  or  hardship  had  ever  been  a  part  of  their  exist- 
ence. 

Of  course,  the  succor  which  came  at  the  opportune  time 
was  none  other  than  the  friendly  water  solution  that  con- 
tained the  germs  fitted  by  nature  to  gather  nitrogen  from 
the  wandering  air  in  the  soil,  and  to  transfer  it  to  the 
starving  plants. 

Experiments,  variously  planned  and  prosecuted,  were 
from  now  on  in  order.  They  served  only  to  verify  the 
concluding  theory.  The  secret,  at  last,  was  learned,  the 
mystery  penetrated,  and  a  new  idea  given  the  world.  A 


I 1 6  SOILS 

wonderful  achievement  it  was !  And  immeasurable  in  its 
results ! 

Has  any  statesman  ever  constructed  a  theory  so  useful  ? 
Has  any  politician  ever  devised  a  policy  so  far-reaching 
in  its  results?  Has  any  soldier,  with  legions  behind  him, 
ever  won  so  glorious  a  conquest? 

Modestly,  unassuming,  and  painstakingly,  these  men 
have  labored,  and  have  left  to  the  world  a  legacy  of  untold 
worth,  of  unequaled  largeness,  and  of  most  lasting  endur- 
ance :  one  that  shall  be  shared  by  all  men  alike,  whether 
they  be  old  or  young,  rich  or  poor,  learned  or  unlearned. 
So  long  as  men  plow  and  sow,  so  long  as  men  need  bread 
and  meat,  so  long  as  nations  live  and  survive,  so  long 
shall  the  names  of  Liebig,  of  Boussinganlt,  of  Lawes  and 
Gilbert,  of  Hellriegel  and  Wilfarth  be  honored  and  es- 
teemed and  glorified  as  world  benefactors  and  as  beacon 
lights  of  the  human  race. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE  RELEASE  OF  SOIL  NITROGEN:  THE  RETURN  TO 

THE  AIR 

A  very  close  relationship  exists  between  the  soil,  the 
plant,  and  the  animal.  Each  must  perform  its  work  that 
the  other  two  may  do  their  part. 

Nature  has  just  a  simple  plan :  she  stores  in  the  soil 
and  air  the  elements  that  plants  require :  she  hands  these 
same  elements  on  to  animals  through  the  plant;  for  in 
the  animal  body  are  found  the  same  chemical  elements 
that  are  present  in  the  plant.  Plants,  however,  must  come 
first:  they  gather  from  soil  and  air  simple  compounds 
from  which  they  manufacture  other  compounds  more 
complex  in  nature — just  such  materials  as  animals  need. 
For  all  higher  animals,  you  know,  get  their  food  either 
through  eating  plants  or  eating  other  animals  that  feed 
on  plants.  Plence,  animal  life  is  dependent  either  directly 
or  indirectly  on  plant  life  for  sustenance.  Then  the  ani- 
mal dies ;  maybe  the  plant  dies :  out  of  their  decay  and 
decomposition  soil  is  made  again  or  reenforced ;  air  is 
given  back  the  compounds  it  previously  had  lent  the  plant 
during  its  stage  of  growth,  and  of  plant  building.  Thus 
the  plant  depends  for  food  on  materials  stored  in  the 
plant,  in  the  soil,  and  in  the  air;  and  the  soil  and  air 
depend  for  their  normal  supply  of  elemental  things  on  the 
plant  and  animal. 

Here  is  the  cycle :  out  of  soil  grows  the  plant,  out  of 
the  plant  grows  the  animal ;  from  the  plant  and  animal 
develops  the  soil. 

Life  and  death. — Both  life  and  death  are  concerned  in 


Il8  SOILS 

this  purpose  of  organization  and  disorganization :  the 
first,  an  organization  of  simple  materials  into  complex 
substances  that  animal  life  may  be  possible ;  the  second, 
a  disorganization  of  complex  substances  into  simple 
forms  that  soils  may  be  fertile,  and  that  plants  may  feed 
well  and  properly. 

Two  constructive  elements. — In  all  life  processes,  two 
constructive  elements — carbon  and  nitrogen — are  espe- 
cially active.  The  first  of  these,  as  we  have  learned,  is 
obtained  from  the  air,  only — from  the  atmospheric  zone 
in  which  leaves  perform  their  important  work  in  plant 
building.  \Ye  have  learned,  also,  that  carbon,  as  used  by 
plants,  is  combined  always  with  oxygen,  in  what  the 
chemist  calls  carbon  dioxide :  one  part  carbon  and  two 
parts  oxygen,  hence  the  formula  CO2.  An  abundance  of 
this  compound  always  is  present  in  the  atmosphere,  so 
much  so,  in  fact,  that  plants  are  never  carbon-starved,  are 
never  even  threatened  with  a  scarcity.  For  this  reason, 
carbon  supply  is  never  a  problem  that  concerns  the 
farmer.  He  neither  needs  to  know  of  the  wanderings  or 
of  the  duties  of  carbon.  It  is  one  of  the  elements,  that,  on 
all  occasions,  takes  care  of  itself.  Our  interest,  however, 
is  here :  carbon  is  our  greatest  constructive  element,  and 
the  most  abundantly  used  in  the  making  of  every  organic 
compound. 

The  nitrogen  problem  more  important — In  the  case  of 
nitrogen  we  have  a  different  problem,  and  for  this  reason : 
plants  get  their  nitrogen  only  from  the  soil.  True,  bac- 
teria, when  present  in  the  soil,  help  in  this  work,  with 
some  kinds  of  plants,  but  when  not  present,  these  favored 
sorts  are  no  better  fitted  to  secure  this  needed  element 
than  are  the  less  favored  ones. 

The  two  forms  in  which  nitrogen  is  used  by  plants  are : 
as  nitrates  and  ammonium  salts.  The  first  finds  immedi- 


THE  RELEASE  OF  SOIL  NITROGEN 

ate  acceptance  by  plants,  and  the  latter,  also,  although 
not  to  the  same  degree — maybe  only  after  passing  into  a 
nitrate  form. 

The  fact  that  nitrogen  is  a  soil  constituent,  and  one  that 
is  easily  and  continually  lost,  makes  the  control  of  the 
nitrogen  supply  the  most  serious  problem  of  crop  pro- 
duction. 

Original  sources  of  the  nitrogen  of  the  soil. — The  fol- 
lowing are  important  sources  of  the  nitrogen  that  plants 
use : 

1.  Organic  matter  from  both  the  plant  and  the  animal. 

2.  Ammonia  that  is  given  by  air,  rain,  and  snow. 

3.  Free  nitrogen  of  the  air  that  bacteria  fix  in  the  soil. 

4.  The  chemical  salts  supplied  from  other  places. 

It  matters  not  in  just  what  form  the  nitrogen  supply  is 
obtained.  The  two  great  sources  of  this  supply  are :  or- 
ganic matter  and  the  bacterial  contributions. 

Organic  matter  must  be  torn  apart. — If  the  stores  of 
plant  food,  locked  in  organic  matter,  are  to  be  of  benefit 
to  future  generations  of  plants,  it  is  necessary  for  the 
many  compounds  contained  therein  to  be  destroyed:  or- 
ganized compounds  must  be  torn  apart  and  broken  down 
into  simpler  substances.  This  work  is  done  by  decom- 
position, by  decay  and  putrefaction,  as  we  call  them. 
The  former  takes  place  in  the  presence  of  air — when  an 
abundance  of  oxygen  is  found  and  the  latter  only  in  the 
absence  of  much  oxygen. 

The  agents  back  of  these  performances  are  bacteria — 
tiny  little  plants  that,  unaided,  neither  eye  can  see  nor 
ear  can  hear,  as  they  go  on  with  their  work,  performing 
their  simple  duties  and  their  essential  labors. 

And  what  do  you  think  they  are  working  for?  Simply 
carbon.  They  must  have  it.  Just  as  bird  or  beast  or  man 
looks  to  starch  and  fat  and  protein  for  life  and  suste- 


I2O  SOILS 


nance — for  the  carbon  compounds  that  give  heat  and 
energy,  so  do  bacteria  look  to  some  similar  substance  in 
the  soil  for  their  supply.  These  little  creatures  are  unable, 
of  course,  to  take  their  supply  in  just  the  way  that  the 


TWO   KINDS  OF  BACTERIA  FOUND  IN  DECAYING  VEGETABLE   MATTER 
(after  Pfeiffer) 


higher  forms  do:  they  have  a  way  of  their  own.  And 
why  not?  They  pull  compounds  to  pieces,  they  seize 
the  carbohydrate  therein  held,  and  on  it  feed  that  their 
needs  may  be  supplied.  Naturally,  then,  when  bacteria 
feed,  they  destroy  organic  matter.  Organic  compounds, 
since  they  are  dead,  no  longer  are  able  to  resent  and  resist 
these  attacks,  consequently  fall  apart  and  sink  into  lower 
forms,  at  last  to  be  destroyed  entirely  as  a  component 
structure.  It  is  just  the  old  story  in  reality :  dust  to  dust 
and  ashes  to  ashes.  The  plant  dies,  the  animal  dies — or- 
ganic forms  disappear  and  become  mingled  with  the  dust 
of  the  fields;  and  this  becomes  rich  and  fertile  because 
of  the  dead  therein  enclosed :  because  bacteria  have  done 
their  work  well. 


THE  RELEASE  OF  SOIL  NITROGEN 


121 


BACTERIAUSUALI.Y  FOUNDIN 
DECAYING  ORGANIC  MATTtR 

A.  B.  Mycoides:    B  B.  Stutzeri 
(after  Conn) 


These  bacteria  are  everywhere  present. — It  is  only  re- 
cently that  these  bacteria  have  been  introduced  to  us  in 
a  manner  fitting  their  importance  and  even  to-day  we 
scarcely  know  them.  Yet  we  are 
assured  that  whenever  decay  and 
putrefaction  take  place,  there  large 
numbers  of  these  busy  bodies  are 
at  work :  some  kinds  down  deep 
in  the  soil,  where  little  oxygen 
finds  its  way ;  others  near  the  sur- 
face of  the  ground,  where  air  and 
food  are  more  abundant ;  some 
kinds  with  vegetable  substances, 
which  peculiarly  attract  them ; 
and  still  others  \\ith  animal  compounds,  which  meet  their 
fancy.  In  fact,  you  will  find  these  bacteria  almost  every- 
where :  in  air,  in  water,  in  milk,  in  all 
vegetable  and  animal  products,  in  the 
soil.  When  much  available  organic 
matter  is  at  hand,  these  bacteria  eat 
greedily  and  multiply  rapidly,  but  when 
food  is  no  longer  available,  they  rest 
and  sleep  and  wait  until  more  appears. 
Without  bacteria  there  would  be  no 
decay. — Of  course,  this  work  must  be 
done  if  plants  are  to  be  supplied  with 
food.  Y\  ithout  these  bacteria,  the  by- 
products of  the  farm — manures,  vege- 
table matter,  waste  and  roughage  of 
all  kinds  —  would  only  accumulate, 
never  decay.  The  soil  would  lose  its  lending  power  be- 
cause its  capital  would  be  exhausted,  and  no  means 
would  be  available  that  its  replenishment  might  take 
place. 


ISACTERIA   FOUND  IN 
DECAYING  ANIMAL 

TISSUE 
(after  Conn) 


122  SOILS 

The  evil  in  bacteria. — So  far,  we  have  seen  good  only  in 
bacteria :  they  destroy  ten  thousand  useless  things  that, 
otherwise,  would  trouble  man  and  load  him  continuously 
with  burdens  and  difficulties.  It  is  impossible  to  estimate 
the  value  or  the  extent  of  this  useful  work.  But  for  all 
the  good  they  do,  bacteria  have  an  evil  side :  they  send 
nitrogen  away  from  the  soil.  This  must  be  said,  how- 
ever :  that  while  decay  and  putrefaction  bacteria  have  the 
power  of  freeing  nitrogen  from  its  compounds  in  the  soil, 
they  do  so  only  to  a  limited  extent,  and  only  very 
slightly,  indeed,  where  the  tiller  of  the  soil  properly  co- 
operates with  them. 

There  are  some  forms  of  bacteria  in  the  soil  that  make 
it  their  chief  business  to  free  nitrogen.  They  do  this  not 
because  they  have  any  spite  against  plants  or  animals, 
but  simply  in  order  that  they  may  live.  Here  is  the  rea- 
son :  they  need  some  carbohydrate — a  carbon  compound — 
for  food ;  this  they  get  from  the  organic  substances  that 
have  been  sent  to  the  soil.  But  they  need,  also,  some 
oxygen  just  as  the  higher  plants.  If  air  is  not  present  in 
the  soil — it  is  excluded  often  by  water  or  bad  texture — 
oxygen  becomes  in  demand.  But  from  whence  may  it 
be  secured?  These  bacteria  have  found  a  way  through 
the  long,  long  line  of  their  antecedents :  they  simply  seek 
out  nitrogen  compounds — compounds  that  contain  both 
nitrogen  and  oxygen — and  extract  from  them  the  oxygen 
they  need,  at  the  same  time  rejecting  any  nitrogen  asso- 
ciated with  it  there.  This  nitrogen,  now  released,  escapes 
its  prison,  rises  into  air,  sails  away,  and  becomes  lost  to 
the  soil  until  trapped  again  by  other  bacteria — the  good 
fairies  that  do  this  philanthropic  act. 

Denitrification :  the  nitrogen-freeing  process.  —  The 
first  effort  in  freeing  nitrogen  is  that  of  changing  the 
nitrates  into  the  next  simpler  form,  the  nitrites.  Not  just 


THE  RELEASE  OF  SOIL  NITROGEN 


123 


one  bacterium  does  this:  bacteriologists  tell  us  that  a 
dozen  or  more  kinds  have  been  detected  at  this  bad 
work.  If  some  nitrogen  compound,  like  sodium  nitrate 
(NaNO3),  is  present  in  the  soil,  these  denitrifying  bac- 
teria, as  a  first  step,  seize  onto  it  and  take  oxygen  there- 
from, reducing  the  compound — sodium  nitrate  (NaXO3) 


SOME    BACTERIA    THAT    CAUSE    THE    FERMENTATION    OF    URINE 
(after  Beijerinck) 

— to  a  nitrite  (XaXO2).  At  this  point  in  the  reduction, 
another  group  of  bacteria  attack  the  compound — now 
sodium  nitrite  (XaXO2) — and  obtain  the  rest  of  the  oxy- 
gen, thereby  setting  the  nitrogen  free.  The  same  is  true 
of  ammonia:  either  these  same  reducing  bacteria  or 
others  similar  in  nature  act  upon  ammonia  salts  in  a  way 
that  frees  the  nitrogen  from  its  combination,  consequently 
causing  its  loss  to  the  soil. 

The  significance  of  this  is  striking:  it  means  that  the 
most  costly,  as  well  as  the  most  important,  fertilizing 
element  has  departed  to  the  air,  where  it  possesses  no 
value  to  either  plant  or  animal. 

What  the  farmer  may  do. — A  very  comforting  fact,  on 


124  SOILS 

the  other  hand,  has  been  discovered.  It  is  this :  Denitrify- 
ing bacteria  are  slow  workers  when  oxygen  finds  its  way 
freely  into  the  soil  or  wherever  decomposition  takes 
place. 

If  this  be  true,  is  it  not  good  farming  to  till  so  carefully 
the  land  that  air  may  find  easy  access  to  all  parts  of 
it?  If  water  excludes  air  from  the  soil,  is  it  not  in  line  of 
good  practice  to  get  rid  of  it  by  drainage? 

Certainly,  this  is  the  best  method  of  battle.  And  a 
method  that  allows  nitrates  to  accumulate  and  that  weak- 
ens the  ravages  of  all  forms  of  reducing  bacteria.  The  con- 
clusion, then,  is  this :  if  nitrates  and  ammonium  salts — 
the  forms  that  just  suit  plant  roots — are  to  be  protected 
in  the  soil,  it  is  necessary  to  loosen  and  fine  and  open  the 
land  to  air  and  oxygen.  If  these  plant  foods  are  to  be 
increased,  organic  matter  must  be  added  in  abundance 
but  with  this  caution :  you  must  send  air  into  the  soil ; 
you  must  till  it;  you  must  drain  it  well;  you  must  make 
its  texture  of  the  highest  quality.  And  then  plants  will 
like  this  soil  as  a  home.  In  it,  organic  matter  quickly 
will  be  decomposed,  and  at  the  same  time,  the  nitrogen- 
supply  content  increased  and  protected,  because  that  soil 
is  mellow  and  open  and  of  good  tilth ;  because  the  things 
that  do  good  and  discountenance  the  evil  of  the  nitrogen- 
liberating  bacteria,  have  been  secured  and  supplied  with 
great  abundance. 

Who  shall  withhold  this  method  of  nitrogen  increase 
and  nitrogen  protection  ?  This  great  power  is  in  your 
hands.  Who  shall  hinder  you  from  using  it. 

The  fault,  dear  Brutus,  is  not  in  our  stars, 
But  in  ourselves,  that  we  are  underlings. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

NITRIFICATION:  NITROGEN  MADE  READY  FOR 
PLANTS 

Every  one  familiar  with  the  growing  of  crops  knows 
that  organic  matter,  when  thoroughly  decomposed  and 
mixed  with  the  soil,  increases  the  producing  power  of 
the  land ;  especially  is  this  the  case  when  nitrogen  com- 
pounds are  present  in  considerable  quantities. 

We  have  discussed  the  manner  in  which  organic  mat- 
ter is  decomposed  in  the  soil.  Bacteria  do  the  work : 
they  break  into  pieces  every  sort  of  organized  life.  A 
question  now  arises :  What  becomes  of  these  simpler 
forms,  now  pulled  apart  and  disorganized?  One  phase 
of  this  question  has  been  answered  already :  some  of  the 
nitrogen  has  been  given  freedom :  it  has  disappeared 
from  the  soil.  The  mineral  substances,  that  were  con- 
tained in  the  organic  matter,  are  left  in  the  soil.  They 
cannot  get  away  into  the  air.  They  will  be  available  at 
once  to  plants,  or  else  lost  through  drainage  waters. 
They  may  join  with  other  elemental  forms  already  in  the 
soil,  and  so  remain  until  called  into  use  by  the  enticing 
demands  of  future  generations  of  plants. 

The  carbon  compounds  remain  either  in  the  soil  or  re- 
turn to  the  air  as  rapidly  as  they  are  released  from  their 
combinations  by  decomposition  bacteria.  This  departure 
may  be  in  the  form  of  marsh  gas  or  of  carbon  dioxide. 
In  either  case,  it  offers  no  service  to  growing  plants  so 
long  as  it  remains  in  the  soil. 

We  now  reach  the  important  part  of  our  question,  and 
out  of  it  grows  a  second.  What  becomes  of  the  nitrogen 


126  SOILS 

compounds  that  remain  in  the  soil?  That  we  shall  at- 
tempt to  answer  now. 

Just  after  decay  nitrogen  compounds  are  not  ready  for 
plants. — When  nitrogen  compounds  are  reduced  from 
their  complex  forms — plant  or  animal  tissue — by  decom- 
position bacteria,  they  are  unavailable  plant  food,  still. 
They  must  be  made  to  combine  with  more  oxygen :  they 
must  be  oxidized.  Scientific  men  call  this  process  nitrifi- 
cation. Organic  compounds  of  nitrogen,  when  applied  to 
the  soil  and  decomposed,  eventually  oxidize  to  a  nitrate, 
and  then  become  usable  plant  food. 

The  chemical  process. — In  this  disorganization  of  the 
higher  and  complex  compounds,  nitrogen  compounds, 
like  those  of  other  elements,  are  reduced  to  more  simple 
ones,  reaching,  finally,  a  point  where  nitric  acid  is  formed. 
This  acid  now  unites  with  bases  or  metals,  producing 
compounds  now  known  as  nitrates.  The  common  ni-^ 
trates  are:  potassium  nitrate  (KNCX),  sodium  nitrate 
(NaNO8),  calcium  nitrate  (Ca(NO3)2),  and  ammonia 
nitrate  (NH4NO3). 

Nitrification  is  a  biological  process. — Nitrification,  at 
first,  was  thought  to  be  a  chemical  process.  The  chemist 
had  learned  that  he  could  do  this  same  work  in  his  labo- 
ratory :  he  could  oxidize,  under  certain  conditions,  nitrous 
bodies  into  nitric  acid  bodies :  he  could  oxidize  unavail- 
able plant  food  into  available  nitrogen  plant  food.  But, 
in  recent  days,  many  things  have  been  discovered  about 
soil  bacteria.  Further  study  has  revealed  the  fact,  that 
some  of  these  many  busy  bodies  of  the  soil  are  back  of 
this  oxidization  process  :  some  of  them  cause  nitrification  : 
some  of  them  change  unavailable  nitrogen  into  the  desired 
form. 

One  way  of  proving  this  theory  is  this :  secure  a  sam- 
ple of  soil  which  when  mixed,  divide  into  two  parts.  One 


NITRIFICATION  127 

lot  now  is  sterilized  by  heating,  that  all  bacteria  may  be 
killed.  The  other  lot  is  undisturbed.  Both  lots  are 
treated  alike  in  all  other  respects  from  now  on.  When 
compared  later,  it  will  be  found  that  the  treated  lot 
shows  no  increase  of  nitrates — of  available  food ;  while 
the  other  lot — where  bacteria  were  permitted  to  go  on — 
shows  an  increase  in  this  respect.  Hence,  nitrification, 
now,  is  believed  to  be  a  biological  process :  to  be  actually 
caused,  governed  and  controlled  by  the  bacterial  life  of 
the  soil.  Moreover,  it  is  a  two-fold  process,  for  the  rea- 
son that  two  sets  of  bacteria  are 
at  work.  One  set  oxidizes  am- 
monium  compounds  into  ni-  » A**  £ 
trous  acid — nitrite;  the  other  A,^'- 

*  %  ft     0  * 

oxidizes    the    nitrites    into    ni-   »•&  t  ••  «• 

trates — the  final  form.    A  Rus-     '••••* 

V  * 

sian  scientist  has  demonstrated 

i 
that   these   two  sets   are   com- 

NITRIFYING    BACTERIA 

pletely  separated,  that  neither  A.-Nitrococcus 

crosses  the  line  into  the  other's        B-  and(A^icronn)aciena 
territory,  that  each   class  does 

its  own  work.  only.    In  short,  that  neither  class  is  able  to 
do  the  other's  work,  even  if  it  would  do  so. 

The  bacteria  that  cause  nitrification. — These  workers 
are  known  now  as  nitrobacteria.  The  two  classes  are: 
Nitrous  bacteria,  called  also  nitrosomonus,  and  nitric 
bacteria,  called  also  nitrobacter.  As  stated  before,  ni- 
trous bacteria  begin  the  work  of  nitrification :  they 
change  ammonium  compounds  into  nitrites.  When  this 
is  done,  their  work  stops :  they  go  no  farther,  for  they 
cannot.  However,  nitrification  is  not  stopped,  for  at 
this  point  the  nitric  bacteria  take  up  the  work,  change 
nitrites  into  nitrates,  thereby  completing  the  work  origi- 
nally begun  by  putrefaction  bacteria. 


128  SOILS 

A  striking  peculiarity  of  the  nitrobacter  is  this :  they 
need  no  organic  food.  So  far  as  now  known,  they  com- 
prise the  only  living  form  that  is  able  to  live  in  an  envi- 
ronment wholly  devoid  of  organic  matter.  Decomposi- 
tion bacteria  cease  their  labors  when  the  organic  matter 
is  used  up,  but  these,  the  nitrobacteria,  only  begin  their 
work  when  such  becomes  the  case,  and  so  this  is  proved : 
nitrifying  bacteria  are  inactive  in  the  presence  of  organic 
matter  for  they  labor  only  when  it  has  been  completely 
destroyed. 

Nitrogen-starved  soils  may  contain  much  nitrogen. — 
All  agricultural  soils  contain  some  nitrogen.  Some  may 
show  considerable  quantities  and  others  but  little.  And 
often  the  latter  class  produce  the  best  crops.  A  question 
naturally  arises:  why  is  this  so?  In  the  first  place,  other 
conditions  being  secured,  crops  are  dependent  upon  a 
plentiful  supply  of  nitrates  in  the  soil.  These,  as  has 
been  shown,  pass  through  various  changes  before  reach- 
ing the  final  usable  state.  Nitrogen  compounds  may  be 
present  in  the  soil  in  great  abundance,  but  until  these 
are  changed  to  nitrates,  they  are  useless  to  plants.  Hence, 
nitrification  is  essential.  The  bacteria  must  be  stimulated 
in  this  work.  It  may  be,  decomposition  of  the  organic 
supplies  is  slow;  if  so,  decomposition  bacteria  must  be 
induced  to  work  with  more  energy.  Tillage  may  help ; 
lime  may  help.  But  the  fault  may  be  elsewhere :  the 
decomposition  bacteria  may  have  completed  their  effort; 
they  may  have  done  every  bit  of  work  possible  to  do. 
Maybe  the  nitrobacteria — the  nitrifying  agents — are  at 
fault.  They  must  be  induced  to  greater  effort.  If  the 
soil  is  acid,  the  explanation  is  at  hand,  for  these  bacteria 
never  work  in  sour  lands.  Liming  the  land  may  answer 
the  question.  And  then  tillage  will  help.  It  will  admit 
the  air,  which  certainly  can  do  no  harm,  for  air  is  just 


NITRIFICATION  I2Q 

about  as  important  as  anything  in  way  of  favoring  both 
the  agents  and  the  work  they  perform.  Now,  we  may 
be  certain  of  this  fact:  any  soil  that  freely  provides  ni- 
trates as  a  result  of  active  nitrifications  is  in  a  high  state 
of  culture :  it  is  ideal  in  physical  condition  and  most 
highly  remunerative  when  considered  from  every  stand- 
point of  land  management  and  crop  production.  Every 
effort  that  induces  nitrification  in  stubborn  soils  is  re- 
warded by  increased  crops.  Back  of  good  crops  is  active 
nitrification  and  back  of  nitrification  is  vigorous  bacterial 
life :  back  of  all  these  are  good  tilth  and  good  texture. 

The  evil  and  the  good  bacteria. — You  will  wonder  just 
how  this  combat  that  is  taking  place  continually  between 
the  denitrifying  and  the  nitrifying  bacteria  will  end. 
Thanks  to  the  bacteriologist,  we  are  able  with  consider- 
able accuracy  to  answer  the  question.  And  the  answer 
is  not  unfavorable  to  the  nitrifying  bacteria.  It  is  well 
that  we  have  these  two  classes  well  in  mind.  One  class 
seeks  liberty  for  nitrogen :  it  would  set  it  free  and  send 
it  from  the  soil.  The  other  class  would  hold  it  tight, 
fast  secure  it  in  some  nitrate,  and  there  keep  it  until  the 
plant  roots  come  to  take  it  away.  \Yhenever  organic 
matter  is  present  in  the  soil,  denitrification  is  taking  place. 
If  the  nitrates  are  there,  these  tormenting  things  seek 
them  out  and  tear  them  to  pieces,  and  in  so  doing  they 
let  the  nitrogen  go.  Just  as  soon,  however,  as  this  or- 
ganic matter  is  used  up,  the  nitrifying  germs  advance 
boldly  to  the  front,  the  denitrifying  germs  withdraw,  and 
nitrate-making  goes  on  as  before.  It  is  well  to  keep  in 
mind  this  suggestion  :  do  not  add  any  large  quantity  of 
organic  matter  to  the  soil  when  any  considerable  amount 
of  nitrate  is  there  present,  for  if  you  do,  the  nitrate  will 
be  reduced  and  much  nitrogen  will  secure  its  escape  from 
the  soil.  It  is  far  better  to  supply  fresh  organic  matter 


I3O  SOILS 

at  that  time  of  the  year,  when  the  soil  is  most  nearly 
exhausted  of  its  nitrate  stores. 

Observe  how  nature  does :  when  lands  have  produced 
their  harvests,  they  are  low  in  nitrates — so  nature  brings 
in  cold  and  frost  and  death.  Organic  matter  is  sent  back 
to  the  soil  from  whence  it  came ;  and  while  winter  storms 
and  blows,  and  later  passes  into  the  warmer  circle  of 
spring,  denitrification  is  not  unlikely  taking  place,  where 
no  call  is  made  for  nitrates,  for  few  plants  are  needing 
them.  Consequently,  when  the  time  comes,  when  greater 
stores  are  necessary,  the  organic  matter  has  been  de- 
stroyed, leaving  denitrifying  bacteria  largely  inactive,  and 
careless,  and  at  the  same  time  unmindful  of  the  accumu- 
lation of  nitrates  by  the  nitrifying  bacteria,  now  busy 
at  work,  and  concentrating  every  effort  to  secure  a  maxi- 
mum quantity  of  every  fruiting  plant. 

What  these  facts  teach. — A  knowledge  of  the  way  in 
which  these  many  kinds  of  bacteria  work  ought  to  help 
in  lessening  nitrogen  loss,  in  stimulating  nitrifying  bac- 
teria into  activity,  and  in  increasing  the  yields  of  crops.  In 
the  first  place,  it  is  a  mistake  to  incorporate  raw  organic 
matter  with  the  soil,  when  the  nitrate  stores  are  already 
there  in  considerable  quantities.  It  is  also  a  mistake  to 
apply  organic  matter  some  time  previously  to  land  where 
crops  soon  must  fructify,  for  the  reason  that  denitrifying 
bacteria  may  use  more  of  the  nitrate  compounds  than  the 
growing  crop  itself.  It  is  far  better,  in  the  light  of  these 
important  soil  findings,  to  apply  organic  matter  during 
the  fall  or  winter  or  early  spring,  when  the  stores  of 
nitrates  are  at  their  lowest  points.  This,  then,  is  the  time 
when  manure  should  go  to  the  fields,  when  denitrifica- 
tion can  take  place  without  affecting  the  available  nitro- 
gen supplies  of  the  soil. 

We  know,  also,  that  the  nitrobacteria — the  kind  that 


NITRIFICATION  13! 

cause  nitrification — are  always  inactive  in  acid  soils ; 
hence,  nitrates  are  formed  in  such  soils  very  slowly,  in- 
deed. When  this  is  the  case,  lime  must  be  applied  so  as 
to  sweeten  the  soil ;  then  the  work  will  go  on  to  the 
advantage  of  the  bacteria  working  there,  and  to  the  farmer 
who  seeks  the  crop. 

Finally,  thorough  cultivation  and  tillage  and  drainage 
must  be  given,  that  an  abundance  of  oxygen  may  be 
available  to  this  working  force  in  the  soil.  There  will 
follow,  also,  a  better  distribution  of  moisture — a  most 
essential  factor  of  rapid  bacterial  development,  and 
hence,  of  nitrification. 


CHAPTER  XV 

RECLAIMING  LOST  NITROGEN:  THE  CALL  TO  THE 

AIR 

Nitrogen  passes  through  its  cycle  continuously.  Freed 
by  bacteria,  it  slips  into  the  air,  there  to  remain  until 
trapped  again  by  other  bacteria,  when  it  becomes  secure 


LOSING  NITROGEN  AND  HUMUS 

Nitrogen  is  too  precious  to  be  sent  off  into  the  clouds.  Besides  the  rotting 
effect  is  needed  in  the  soil.  The  trouble  with  old  soils  is:  they  need  humus. 
Hence,  never  burn  humus-making  materials  ;  let  them  rot  in  the  soil 

in  plants  or  is  held  fast  bound  in  the  soils.  Lost  and 
then  captured  is  the  gist  of  the  story :  not  one  time,  only, 
but  so  repeatedly  that  the  change  becomes  a  continuous 


RECLAIMING  LOST  NITROGEN  133 

change;    and  so  it  has  been  from  the  time  that  plants 
became  fixed  occupants  of  the  land. 

How  nitrogen  is  lost. — There  are  other  ways  by  which 
nitrogen  is  lost  to  the  soil  than  that  previously  men- 
tioned :  the  loss  through  denitrifying  bacteria.  The  many 
ways  by  which  these  losses  occur  are : 

1.  The  loss  due  to  fire  and  chemical  change. 

2.  The  transfer  of  nitrogen  to  the  ocean. 

3.  The  loss  of  nitrogen  salts  in  drainage  waters. 

There  is  no  plan  that  may  be  suggested  that  will  com- 
pletely remove  these  losses.  Some  cannot  be  lessened, 
even.  Fire  is  essential  for  heat  and  mechanical  power. 
When  wood,  straw  and  other  combustible  materials  are 
consumed,  the  compounds  composing  them  are  split  up : 
mineral  materials  sink  back  to  the  soil  (available  for 
plant  uses,  if  not  lost),  carbon  and  nitrogen,  freed  from 
their  prison  cells,  fly  off  into  the  air  and  are  reclaimed 
to  the  atmosphere ;  and  water,  loosed  from  the  cords  that 
bind  it,  vaporizes  and  joins  its  kind  in  the  clouds  above. 

When  these  agencies  are  considered — their  constant 
activity,  their  labors  in  every  season  and  in  every  place — 
you  can  realize,  readily,  the  enormous  quantities  of  ni- 
trogen that  are  dissipated  annually  and  lost,  conse- 
quently, to  the  stores  in  the  earth. 

The  ocean  gets  its  share,  also.  And  a  tremendous  con- 
tribution it  is.  Consider  the  enormous  quantities  of  hu- 
man foods  that,  each  year,  go  to  cities  and  towns  and 
other  places  of  consumption  throughout  the  world.  The 
greater  part  of  these  immense  stores  reach  the  ocean 
sooner  or  later  by  means  of  sewers  and  streams  and 
rivers — positively  lost  to  plants  and  to  man. 

Then  the  loss  of  nitrogen  in  drainage  waters  is  not 
inconsiderable,  either.  This  is  more  constant  and  larger 
than  you  may  think  on  first  consideration.  Every  rain 


134  SOILS 

that  falls  on  the  land  dissolves  some  of  the  nitrates  and 
other  nitrogen-carrying  salts  and  carries  them  with  it  as 
it  seeks  lower  levels  until  finally  it  reaches  the  ocean, 
there  to  give  over  its  findings  and  its  stores  to  the  great- 
ness of  the  deep. 

There  is  just  one  thing  to  say:   nitrogen  is  lost. 

Finally  putrefaction  and  denitrifying  bacteria  are  busy 
ever  sending  nitrogen  away  from  the  soil,  even  engaged 
in  the  work  of  stealing  from  plants  and  robbing  the  soil 
of  its  nitrogen  stores. 

Nitrogen  is  therefore  lost,  constantly  and  continuously. 
There  seems  to  be  no  way  of  prevention,  no  way  of  saving 
these  valuable  stores.  True  sewage  farms  will  lessen  the 
contribution  to  the  ocean,  better  tillage  will  check  the 
loss  through  drainage  waters,  and  better  soil  manage- 
ment will  lessen  the  loss  occasioned  by  evil-working  bac- 
teria. Still,  with  the  very  best  that  man  can  do,  the  loss 
can  be  diminished,  only,  but  never  overcome. 

The  problem:  to  reclaim  the  nitrogen  lost. — Nitrogen 
loss,  then,  is  not  preventable :  the  call  to  the  ocean,  the 
demands  of  combustion,  the  determination  of  certain  bac- 
teria, are  all  so  powerful  there  is  no  hope  of  complete 
remedy.  If  this  be  true,  then  this  question  is  in  order: 
How  may  the  normal  supply  of  nitrogen  be  maintained? 

The  solution  of  this  problem  is  of  most  vital  interest 
to  agriculture  and  to  the  human  race.  The  problem,  it- 
self, is  the  most  important  of  all  problems  before  us  to- 
day. For  these  reasons:  upon  its  solution  rests  the  main- 
tenance of  the  fertility  of  the  land,  and  the  production  of 
food  in  sufficient  quantities  to  supply  all  the  needs  of  the 
entire  living  world :  bread  and  meat,  heat  and  shelter, — 
every  sort  of  food  and  raiment. 

There  is  no  cause,  however,  for  alarm.  Let  those  al- 
ready disturbed  and  of  little  faith  remember  this:  the 


RECLAIMING  LOST  NITROGEN  135 

way  to  solve  this  problem  has  been  prepared  already. 
The  secret  has  been  discovered.  The  rules  are  being 
practiced  by  many  to-day :  they  are  easily  performed : 
they  are  very  practicable.  In  short,  nitrogen  free  may 
be  so  treated  and  trained  that  it  readily  acquires  its  useful 
habits  again,  so  that  plants  may  use  it  just  as  they  did 
in  other  days  before  freedom  was  given  it. 

Nitrogen  fixation  in  the  soil  is  now  a  reality,  as  it  has 
been  a  reality  always.  The  secret  has  just  been  revealed 
to  us:  the  story  has  just  been  told. 

Nitrogen  is  fixed  in  the  soil. — The  little  microscopic 
plants  within  the  soil  are  the  agents  of  nitrogen  fixation, 
not  those  that  once  released  it,  nor  those  that  cause  the 
decay  and  putrefaction  of  organic  forms  that  hold  it,  nor 
yet  even  those  that  change  low  nitrogen  forms  into  ni- 
trate salts — none  of  these.  Other  kinds  of  bacteria,  other 
tribes,  are  the  agents  of  fixation.  While  similar  in  all 
habits  of  life,  their  work  is  not  destructive.  It  is  con- 
structive and  of  another  order,  entirely,  than  these  hereto- 
fore mentioned. 

Nitrogen-fixation  bacteria  call  to  the  air,  and.  in  re- 
sponse to  this  call,  nitrogen  leaves  its  atmospheric  en- 
vironments, sroes  to  the  bacteria  making  the  call,  and  does 

o  o 

their  bidding. 

Our  scientific  men,  to-day,  tell  us  with  positiveness  that 
outside  of  electric  discharge  at  least  two  ways  are  open 
for  nitrogen  fixation:  (i)  The  acquisition  of  free  nitro- 
gen, through  the  agency  of  bacteria,  in  the  soil ;  (2)  the 
acquisition  of  free  nitrogen  by  bacteria  that  live  on  the 
roots  of  leguminous  plants. 

In  reference  to  the  first  proposition,  it  has  been  proved, 
abundantly,  that  atmospheric  nitrogen  is  fixed  in  the  soil 
in  some  way ;  most  probably  it  is  associated  with  the 
growth  of  micro-organisms.  This  is  rather  clearly  shown 


136  SOILS 

when  heat  is  applied  to  the  soil:  the  nitrogen  content 
remains  unchanged.  On  the  other  hand,  the  same  soil 
shows  an  increase  in  nitrogen  if  untreated  by  chemicals, 
heat  or  other  influences  that  endanger  or  destroy  the 
floral  life  therein  contained. 

While  safe  enough  evidence  shows  that  soils  do  have 
the  power  of  fixing  nitrogen,  it  is  to  a  very  limited  de- 
gree, only ;  it  is  too  little,  in  fact,  to  base  upon  it  a  ration- 
al system  of  farming. 

Early  experiments  suggested  the  advisability  of  culti- 
vating these  friendly  bacteria  (whose  work  it  is  to  cap- 
ture atmospheric  nitrogen)  and  so  treat  them  that  they 
might  work  more  effectively,  at  least  to  send  them  into 
soils  where  they  had  not  gone  previously,  thus  giving 
them  unusual  work  to  do — in  all  soils,  in  all  sections. 
Some  European  investigators  went  so  far  as  to  prepare 
a  culture  that  should  be  able  to  do  the  work. 

A  better  way  was  found,  however.  It  is  this  :  Get  the 
right  conditions  in  the  soil  that  permit  a  favorable  de- 
velopment of  these  bacterial  germs  rather  than  inoculate 
the  soil,  since  the  germs  are  usually  present  in  the  soil 
and  inactive  only  because  their  environments  are  against 
them.  To  make  them  active,  give  to  the  soil  every  influ- 
ence that  shall  stimulate  the  bacteria  to  vigorous  activity, 
that  shall  make  them  healthy  and  robust,  even  eager  to 
secure  the  nitrogen  of  the  air  and  to  fix  it  in  the  free  soils 
of  the  fields.  Soil  culture,  thorough  tillage,  and  soil  ma- 
nipulation, therefore,  are  to  be  preferred,  in  fact,  these 
are  indispensable,  if  the  helpful  cooperation  of  these  soil 
workers  is  to  be  had. 

More  is  needed:  let  legumes  help. — But  this  help  is  all 
too  little.  The  farmer  must  have  assistance  more  abun- 
dantly and  more  laden  with  good  results.  This  may  be 
obtained  by  cooperation  with  the  legumes.  They  act 


RECLAIMING  LOST  NITROGEN  137 

quickly:  they  act  with  munificence:  they  act  constantly. 
It  has  been  known  for  some  time  that  the  legumes  were 
not  soil  depleters,  as  wheat  or  corn  or  cotton — as  every 
other  form  of  plant :  they  always  helped  the  plant.  In 
what  manner  no  one  knew.  But  this  was  observed : 
when  corn  or  wheat  or  other  cereal  followed  clover  or 
other  legume,  a  much  greater  yield  was  secured  than  on 
similar  land,  similarly  treated,  but  without  the  legume 
crop.  The  evidence  was  so  conclusive  that  long  ago  clo- 
ver and  peas  were  hailed  as  soil  improvers  and  land  build- 
ers. Of  course,  their  goodness  was  never  associated  with 
bacteria.  While  the  peculiar  nodules  were  observed  on 
the  roots  of  these  special  plants,  they  were  believed  to 
be  disease  evidences  rather  than  homes  of  friendly-work- 
ing bacteria. 

It  has  been  noticed  in  a  previous  chapter  that  Lawes 
and  Gilbert  in  England  made  some  extensive  experiments 
with  the  legumes  and  that  their  observation  showed  noth- 
ing favorable  from  their  use.  You  wonder  why?  Here 
is  the  explanation  :  they  never  had  the  aid  of  the  bacteria, 
the  good  fairies  of  this  work.  These  investigators  were 
so  careful  that  no  error  should  creep  into  their  work,  they 
either  never  got  soil  possessing  bacteria,  or  because  of 
sterilization  or  of  the  chemicals  used,  the  development 
and,  hence,  the  good  work  of  these  nitrogen  gatherers 
was  prevented. 

Root  tubercles:  the  place  of  nitrogen  manufacture. — 
Have  you  ever  noticed  the  swellings  that  appear  on  the 
roots  of  such  garden  plants  as  peas  and  beans  or  on  any 
such  field  crops  as  clover  and  alfalfa?  No?  Well,  they 
certainly  are  there  if  your  crops  are  growing  abundantly 
and  vigorously.  You  will  find  roots  of  such  crops  often 
largely  covered  with  wart-like  growths.  These  are  the 
homes  of  nitrogen-gathering  bacteria.  Some  people  call 


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RECLAIMING  LOST  NITROGEN  139 

these  dwellings  tubercles  or  nodules.  It  matters  not 
what  the  name  is :  the  work  accomplished  is  the  matter 
of  consequence.  These  nodules  are  often  very  large — 
as  large  as  a  pea.  And  then  again  they  are  small — as 
small  as  a  pin  head.  Just  as  soon  as  these  nodules  or 
tubercles  were  associated  with  bacteria  and  bacteria  with 
nitrogen  fixation,  many  experiments  resulted  in  conse- 
quence. The  result  of  these  investigations  led  to  the 
solution  and  the  explanation  by  Hellriegel  and  Willfarth 
in  1888  of  this  knotty  problem :  they  told  how  free  nitro- 
gen is  fixed  in  the  soil. 

A  word  about  these  bacteria. — These  little  plants  are 
real  bacteria:   thread-like  bodies  that  send  their  advance 

scouts  throughout  the  roots, 
into  all  tissues  of  the  roots. 
Bacteriologists  tell  us  that 
these  bacteria  are  not  just 
like  other  bacteria.  They  dif- 
fer in  some  ways  from  all  the 
other  kinds.  They  seem  to 
belong  to  a  class  of  their  own 
in  methods  of  growth  and 

ROOT  TUBERCLE  BACTERIA         development.  In  reference  to 
(AFIER   MAZE)  them,  Conn,  a  noted  bacteriol- 

ogist, has  this  to  say :    "At 

certain  stages  of  development,  by  branching  or  budding, 
they  produce  what  are  called  Y  and  T  forms,  a  method 
of  growth  not  characteristic  of  bacteria,  in  general.  It 
is  found,  also,  that  after  the  beginning  of  the  formation  of 
the  tubercle,  long,  thread-like  masses,  filled  with  bacteria, 
can  be  seen  extending  among  the  tissues  of  the  plant. 
The  long  threads  appear  almost  like  pouches  in  which 
the  bacteria  are  held,  but  they  eventually  disappear  and 
the  bacteria  themselves  diffuse  through  the  tissues. 


140  SOILS 

These  phenomena,  the  Y  and  T  forms  and  the  pouch-like 
threads,  have  been  puzzles  to  bacteriologists,  for  they 
are  not  characteristic  of  any  other  bacteria  known.  It 
has  been  doubted  whether  the  organizations  should  be 
called  bacteria." 

But  whether  these  are  bacteria  or  not,  the  fact  remains 
that  they  are  responsible  for  nitrogen  fixation,  and 
hence,  they  are  soil  builders  and  world  benefactors. 

Suggested  ways  in  which  fixation  is  done. — We  are 
certain  of  this  fact :  nitrogen  is  fixed  in  the  soil  in  a  form 
in  which  it  is  assimilable  by  plants  and  especially  usable 
by  the  legumes.  We  are  not  certain,  on  the  other  hand, 
of  the  manner  in  which  this  fact  is  accomplished. 

Four  theories  have  been  suggested,  as  follows : 

1.  The  bacteria  (bacillus  radicicola)  fix  the  nitrogen. 

2.  Legumes  fix  the  nitrogen,  the  bacteria  being  the 
stimulus  of  the  act. 

3.  A  combined  act  of  the  legume  plant  and  tubercle 
bacteria  in  assimilating  nitrogen  already  fixed  in  the  soil 
by  other  bacteria  but   unassimilable   until   legume   and 
tubercle  bacteria  act  on  it  together. 

4.  Symbiosis :   A  combined  act  of  the  legume  plant  and 
tubercle  bacteria  in  gathering  nitrogen  from  the  air. 

In  case  of  either  theory,  the  legume  plant  is  inseparably 
associated  with  bacteria.  The  question  arises :  How  is 
the  work  done? 

The  first  theory  allows  one  conclusion :  bacteria  do 
the  work  entirely  of  themselves.  The  only  value  of  the 
legume  is  its  offering  a  suitable  dwelling  spot  for  the 
workers.  While  some  evidence  points  to  this  theory,  but 
few  accept  it  as  an  explanation  of  nitrogen  fixation. 

The  second  theory,  that  the  legumes  fix  the  nitrogen 
after  being  stimulated  by  the  bacteria  associated  with 
them,  is  not  generally  held,  although  its  advocates  boldly 


RECLAIMING  LOST  NITROGEN  141 

declare  such  to  be  the  case,  some  even  insist  that  other 
plants  besides  the  legumes  have  the  power  of  nitrogen 
fixation.  They  say  that  some  plants  other  than  legumes 
fix  nitrogen  to  a  slight  degree,  only,  still  they  have  the 
power.  If  this  theory  is  correct,  it  will  lead,  doubtless, 
to  still  greater  helpfulness  in  maintaining  the  fertility 
of  the  land. 

A  third  view  of  nitrogen  fixation  is  this :  Some  bacteria 
in  the  soil — just  what  kind  we  do  not  know — seize  on 
the  nitrogen  as  it  moves  about  in  the  soil  with  the  air 
and  hold  it  fast,  by  placing  it  in  some  compound  unas- 
similable  as  plant  food.  A  second  step  is  then  made : 
legumes  and  tubercle  bacteria  couple  their  efforts  and 
nitrogen  passes  into  a  state  that  plants  can  use.  It  is 
fixed  nitrogen :  it  is  real,  usable  plant  food. 

The  symbiotic  theory  finds  a  larger  coterie  of  advo- 
cates. It  is  the  theory  of  mutual  helpfulness  :  the  legume 
helps  the  bacteria  by  furnishing  carbohydrates  and  dwell- 
ing places  for  them :  the  bacteria  help  the  legume  by 
furnishing  nitrogen  as  rapidly  as  it  is  needed  for  all  uses 
of  the  plant.  This  theory  renders  each  party  dependent 
upon  the  other:  without  a  legume  there  is  no  dwelling 
place  for  bacteria  and  without  the  bacteria  there  is  no 
nitrogen  for  vigorous  growth  and  abundant  fruit  for  the 
legume  plant.  Hence,  this  is  a  theory  of  cooperation,  of 
harmonious  mutual  service:  one  helps  the  other;  both 
are  materially  bettered  because  of  the  other. 

The  point  that  is  important. — We  need  not  concern  our- 
selves particularly  about  these  theories.  The  best  plan 
is  to  leave  them  to  the  scientist,  who  sooner  or  later  will 
clear  up  the  matter.  Nor  does  it  matter.  The  good  work 
will  go  on  just /the  same:  legumes  and  bacteria  will  con- 
tinue to  add  the  fat  to  the  land  ;  they  will  continue  to 
enrich  the  farm ;  they  will  continue  to  do  this  work 


SOILS 


whether  we  know  just  how  they  do  it  or  not.  We  can 
spend  our  time  to  better  advantage  by  helping  both  in 
the  field  where  the  work  is  to  be  done:  by  opening  the 
soil  that  air  (and  hence  nitrogen)  may  be  passed  to  them 


BACK   OF   GOOD   TILLAGE   IS    THE    WELL-BRED    FARM    HORSE 

in  abundance,  by  keeping  the  soil  mellow  and  fine  and 
sweet,  that  the  little  workers  in  the  darkness  below  may 
work  with  advantage  to  themselves  and  with  profit  to 
their  master. 


CHAPTER  XVI 
SOIL  INOCULATION:  HOW  DONE 

Successful  farming  now  is  associated  closely  with  the 
growing  of  leguminous  crops.  Why  this  is  true  we  have 
seen :  leguminous  crops  when  aided  by  tubercle  bacteria 
catch  the  nitrogen  of  the  air  and  fix  it  in  the  soil.  There 
remains,  still,  one  phase  of  this  subject  to  be  considered : 
Is  the  farmer  able  to  induce  bacteria  to  visit  his  lands 
and  to  work  there  in  conjunction  with  the  legumes,  if 
heretofore  they  have  not  been  there?  This  question  can 
be  answered  in  the  affirmative.  But  if  you  would  have 
such  visitors  remain  with  you  always,  you  must  do  your 
part  in  making  their  new  home  comfortable  and  satisfac- 
tory to  them.  Otherwise,  they  will  die.  Perhaps  they 
will  do  just  as  others  before  them  may  have  done :  they 
may  be  unable  to  help  you  and  also,  at  the  same  time, 
be  unable  to  live  in  the  quarters  you  have  for  them. 

It  follows,  then,  if  you  would  have  their  help,  you  must 
do  your  part :  you  must  keep  the  soil  free  from  stagnant 
water ;  keep  it  sweet  and  free  from  all  bacteria-destroying 
acids ;  keep  it  open  and  mellow  and  fine ;  keep  it  free 
and  attractive  to  air  and  like  wholesome  influences — 
then  bacteria  will  come  and  flourish  and  do  their  work. 

And  then  bear  in  mind  that  legumes  can  be  of  no  more 
value  in  soil  improvement  than  cereals  or  other  non- 
leguminous  plants,  if  lor  any  reason  the  assisting  bac- 
teria arc  forced  out  of  the  soil.  You  must  get  these  little 
assistants  at  work  again,  if,  perchance,  they  have  de- 
parted. And  if  they  come  for  the  first  time,  let  nothing 
interfere  in  the  way  of  their  remaining. 


144  SOILS 

What  inoculation  of  the  soil  means. — Not  all  soils  con- 
tain just  the  sort  of  bacteria  needed  for  the  legume  that 
you  may  desire  to  grow.  Some  soils  never  have  had 
legumes  growing  in  them,  and  hence,  the  particular  bac- 
teria needed  may  not  be  present  then  at  all.  If  this  is  the 
case,  the  crop  will  do  but  poorly,  especially  if  the  land  is 
old,  deficient  in  vegetable  matter,  and  worn  out.  To 
prepare  the  way,  the  soil  must  be  inoculated :  bacteria 
must  be  introduced  into  the  land.  You  know  how  the 
yeast  plant  is  employed  in  bread-making,  just  a  tiny 
bit  of  it  is  used.  When  warmth  and  moisture  are  sup- 
plied these  yeast  plants  develop  rapidly  and  soon  leaven 
the  whole.  So  with  the  bacteria  of  the  legumes.  In  the 
first  instance,  with  no  yeast,  there  can  be  no  "rising"  of 
the  bread,  while  in  the  second,  with  no  bacteria — those  of 
the  right  kind — in  the  soil,  there  can  be  no  formation  of 
the  tubercles  on  the  roots  of  the  legume.  Hence,  the  need 
of  inoculation,  if  the  wished-for  end  is  to  be  attained. 

Each  legume  has  its  own  worker. — One  of  the  first 
steps  of  inoculation  is  to  get  the  right  bacteria,  for  the 
reason  that  each  legume  has  its  own  bacteria  with  which 
it  works — personal  servants  peculiarly  loyal  and  devoted 
to  it.  Thus  the  bacteria  that  are  allied  with  the  cow  peas 
positively  refuse  to  labor  with  the  alfalfa  or  with  the 
clovers.  These  bacteria  would  rather  die,  than  seek 
dwelling  places  on  the  roots  of  either  alfalfa  or  clover. 
But  the  same  peculiarity  is  true  of  alfalfa  and  clover  bac- 
teria: these  behave  in  precisely  the  same  way  to  the  cow 
pea  or  to  the  soy  bean,  as  their  relatives  do  to  their  lords 
and  masters.  In  other  words,  each  legume  becomes  a 
favorite  abiding  place  for  some  special  kind  of  bacteria, 
and  long  coaxing  is  necessary  in  order  to  get  them  to  do 
differently.  In  a  few  cases  bacteria  are  known  to  be  more 
plastic,  burr  clover  and  sweet  clover  being  two  exam- 


SOIL    INOCULATION  :     HOW   DONE 


145 


SOME  LEGUME  ROOTS   SHOWING  ROOT  TUBERCLES 


146  SOILS 

pies  that  lend  their  silent  servants  to  alfalfa  with  no 
noticeable  resentment  on  the  part  of  the  bacteria.  It  is 
not  the  rule,  however.  Born  within  their  caste,  it  seems 
out  of  the  question  for  bacteria  to  escape  the  borders  that 
enclose  them.  It  is  no  doubt  true  that  these  many  kinds 
of  bacteria — each  legume  has  its  own — came  from  a  com- 
mon ancestry,  when  all  legumes  were  served  alike,  and 
before  wide  differences  became  manifest. 

As  an  example  of  this,  we  have  only  to  refer  to  the 
experience  of  all  alfalfa  growers  in  those  sections  of  the 
country  where  this  crop  has  been  introduced  only  re- 
cently. Although  some  other  legume  may  have  been 
grown  repeatedly  on  the  same  soil,  no  assistance  seems 
to  be  afforded  the  alfalfa  plant  until  first  there  is  supplied 
to  the  soil  the  special  bacteria  that  have  grown  accus- 
tomed to  this  legume. 

Bacteria  may  act  slowly  at  first. — It  often  happens,  also, 
that  when  legumes  are  grown  in  a  soil  for  the  first  time, 
neither  they  nor  bacteria  do  very  effective  work.  Either 
they  have  not  got  acquainted  sufficiently  to  work  in 
harmony,  or  too  few  bacteria  are  present  in  the  soil.  I 
have  observed  this  a  number  of  times,  and  with  several 
legumes.  The  first  season  but  little  is  done :  the  roots 
lack  vigor  and  possess  but  few  nodules,  the  stalk  is 
slender  and  lacks  hardiness,  the  leaves  are  pale,  and  poor 
health  is  generally  manifest.  In  the  second  season  a 
change  is  noted:  in  each  respect  just  mentioned  there  is 
improvement  and  betterment.  And  often  a  third  year, 
even,  is  necessary  in  order  to  secure  vigor,  strength,  color, 
yield  and  size — just  as  you  would  have  them.  An  exam- 
ination of  the  roots  shows  that  an  abundance  of  tubercles 
is  obtained,  often,  during  the  second  season,  and  usually 
by  the  third.  Plants  and  bacteria  now  work  in  harmony, 
and  both  prosper. 


SOIL  INOCULATION:    HOW  DONE  147 

You  should  not  despair,  therefore,  if  appearances  are 
against  the  crop  during  the  first  or  second  year.  Just 
keep  at  work  and  repeat  the  operation  a  second  or  even  a 
third  time.  The  bacteria  will  come  and  work.  The  land 
will  be  saved ! 

When  trying  a  legume  for  the  first  time,  give  it  a 
chance.  If  it  fails  to  meet  your  expectation,  do  not  de- 
spair. But  refrain  from  blaming  the  legume,  nor  blame 
the  bacteria,  either.  Just  repeat  the  experiment,  and  on 
the  same  land.  Give  both  time  to  join  hands,  to  get  to' 
gether  and  acquainted,  to  adjust  their  characters  to  suit 
each  other's  peculiarities ;  and,  above  all,  give  the  bac' 
teria  time  to  increase  and  to  multiply  and  to  fill  the  land 
with  their  kind.  Then  the  work  will  be  done  with  efj 
fectiveness,  just  as  it  will  be  done  to  your  profit  and 
advantage. 

Many  ways  of  inoculation. — There  are  three  ways 
known  of  getting  bacteria  into  the  soil,  if  not  already 
present  there.  These  three  ways  are : 

1.  By  introducing  soil  from  a  field  known  to  contain 
the  desired  bacteria  to  the  field  where  it  is  desired  such 
bacteria  shall  be. 

2.  By  soaking  seed  in  water  in  which  soil  from  a  field 
where  the  legume  has  been  successfully  grown,  has  been 
stored. 

3.  By  means  of  pure  cultures  of  the  specific  organism 
suited  to  the  legume. 

The  first  way  suggested  represents  the  beginning  of 
soil  inoculation.  It  was  effective,  as  it  is  still  to-day  the 
most  effective.  There  ^are  objections  to  this  method, 
however.  It  is  an  inconvenient  method  of  doing  the 
work  ;  it  tends  to  introduce  noxious  weeds  ;  and  it  spreads 
plant  diseases;  hence,  the  reason  for  the  "pure-culture 
method." 


148  SOILS 

Inoculation  by  means  of  soil. — If  this  method  is  to  be 
used — whether  obtained  from  nearby  fields,  or  shipped 
long,  distances — the  evidence  should  be  clear  that  the  soil 
is  free  from  the  objections  just  stated.  Here  is  the  plan : 
take  soil  from  some  field  known  to  contain  the  desired 
bacteria.  Does  this  soil  yield  the  legume  abundantly? 
Do  you  find  tubercles  on  the  roots?  You  do.  Then 
that  is  good  soil  for  the  purpose.  All  you  need  to  do  is 
transfer  this  already-inoculated  soil  to  the  land  that  is  to 
receive  the  good  fairies  of  the  land.  If  this  soil  is  fine 
and  mellow  and  of  good  tilth,  if  it  is  well  drained,  either 
naturally  or  artificially,  if  it  is  free  from  distasteful  acids, 
then  other  things  being  equal — the  plant  at  home  in  its 
environment,  the  soil  suitable  to  it — the  crop  will  grow, 
the  bacteria  will  prosper,  the  land  will  yield  forth  its 
fruitfulness. 

In  getting  the  soil,  it  is  best  to  go  down  where  the  roots 
grow — not  the  top  layer.  A  layer  between  two  and  six 
inches  from  the  surface  will  be  just  about  right.  Apply 
this  soil  to  the  field  that  is  to  be  inoculated,  or  else  mix 
with  the  seed,  slightly  covering  with  the  harrow. 

And  now  another  question :  How  much  soil  is  neces- 
sary? Not  much.  Just  200  to  500  pounds  per  acre  will 
do.  If  the  soil  be  in  good  condition,  a  small  quantity  will 
leaven  the  entire  mass,  the  entire  solid  body.  On  the 
other  hand,  if  the  soil  is  bad,  physically,  a  larger  quantity 
may  be  better — twice  the  quantity  previously  suggested. 
In  either  case,  mix  with  other  soil — just  common  soil  of 
the  field — and  then  harrow  for  even  distribution.  That 
is  all  there  is  to  inoculation  when  inoculated  soil  is  used. 
Once  done,  it  is  always  done,  provided  the  legume  crop 
is  not  neglected  for  too  great  an  intervening  period. 

Inoculation  by  soaking  seed  in  soil  and  water. — The 
second  suggestion  is  often  used  in  practice  now.  Soil  is 


SOIL    INOCULATION  !     HOW    DONE 


149 


obtained  and  enough  water  used  to  make  a  muddy  solu- 
tion and  in  this  the  seed  is  soaked,  after  which  it  is  dried 
and  sown. 

The  "pure  culture"  idea. — This  idea  is  not  so  recent, 
as  you  may  have  been  led  to  believe  from  the  foolish  and 
erroneous  advertisement  that  has  been  given  "pure  cul- 
ture" inoculation.  Several  years  ago  two  German  scien- 
tists worked  out  this  idea,  and  prepared  pure  cultures  of 
the  several  bacteria  suited  to  the  important  legumes. 
These  cultures  were  called  nitragin  and  soon  gained  con- 
siderable commercial  atten- 
tion, even  finding  their  way 
across  the  waters  to  us  on 
this  side.  But  these  cultures 
failed,  when  asked  to  work 
outside  of  European  lands. 
Soon  after  the  advent  of  ni- 
tragin, Moore  brought  out 
his  so-called  discovery  and 
invention.  It  was  hailed  by 
magazines  and  many  agri- 
cultural papers  as  a  panacea 
for  all  the  ills  of  the  soil. 
While  often  successful,  this 

method  is  still  in  the  experimental  stage.  It  promises 
much,  however. 

Following  is  the  Moore  plan  of  such  cultures  for  com- 
mercial use :  bacteria  were  grown  on  nitrogen-free  me- 
dia;  they  got  no  nitrogen,  and  hence  were  starved,  the 
idea  being  that  when  grown  later  in  their  natural  habitat, 
their  nitrogen  appetite  would  be  quickened.  The  next 
step  was  to  lay  these  away  in  cotton  and  dry  them,  that 
journeys  to  distant  points  might  the  more  easily  be  made. 
But  the  plan  was  not  satisfactory  despite  all  that  has  been 


GROWING   BACTERIA   IN   THE 
LABORATORY 


I5O  SOILS 

said  to  the  contrary.  While  it  is  true  that  many  tests 
were  made  in  actual  field  operation,  only  40  per  cent,  were 
in  any  degree  successful.  It  is  not  known  just  what  per 
cent,  of  these  trials  would  have  shown  like  results,  even 
though  no  inoculation  had  been  made.  Certainly,  the 
results  have  been  most  disappointing,  and  a  most  interest- 
ing theory  has  come  to  naught. 

It  is  to  be  hoped  the  new  plan  of  liquid  pure-cultures 
will  be  tried  and  proved  before  given  over  to  spectacular 
advertisement,  as  was  done  with  its  parent  predecessor. 

Inoculation  secures  nitrogen  only. — Let  this  be  clearly 
understood,  also :  no  sort  of  inoculation — inoculation  soil 


ALFALFA  :  THE  BEST  ALL-ROUND  CROP  IN  AMERICA 

or  pure  culture — is  able  to  provide  other  elements  than 
nitrogen.  Nor  can  nitrogen  be  got  save  through  the  use 
of  a  legume  crop.  This  idea  is  repeated  here,  that  it 
may  be  understood  clearly  that  inoculation  has  to  do  only 
with  nitrogen,  the  legumes  and  the  bacteria  associated 
with  the  two.  In  this  way,  only,  can  you  secure  any  re- 
ward for  time,  labor  and  money  expended  in  the  pursuit 
of  nitrogen. 

The  legume  to  select. — In  selecting  a  legume  that  shall 
serve  in  the  capacity  of  a  nitrogen  gatherer  for  other 
crops,  you  will  be  governed,  naturally,  by  circumstances. 


SOIL  INOCULATION:    HOW  DONE  151 

If  your  soil  is  sandy  in  nature,  you  can  expect  but  little 
from  clover.  Cow  peas  and  soy  beans  will  do  the  work 
a  great  deal  better.  Give  these  legumes  a  trial  there. 
On  the  other  hand,  if  you  want  a  more  permanent  legume 
for  loam  or  clay  land  and  one  that  will  last  longer  than 
for  a  few  months,  only,  then  select  clover.  It  adjusts  itself 
readily  to  every  sort  of  rotation ;  it  is  easily  sown  and  it 
makes  a  good  pasture  crop  or  a  good  hay  crop — you  can 
take  your  choice.  But  even  if  you  use  cow  peas,  and  soy 
beans  and  clover,  you  certainly  ought  not  overlook  alfalfa. 
It  is  the  best  all-round  crop  in  America:  good  for  feed 
and  good  for  the  land,  good  for  consumption  on  the  farm, 
and  good  for  sale :  the  best  money  crop,  the  best  feeding 
crop,  and  the  best  crop  for  the  land. 

Conclusion:  Points  to  bear  in  mind. — I.  Inoculation  is 
a  good  thing: 

(a)  When  a  small  amount  of  humus  is  in  the  soil. 

(b)  If  previously-grown  legumes  lacked  nodules. 

(c)  If  the  legume  is  used  for  the  first  time,  and  not 
closely  related  to  the  previously-grown  legume. 

2.  Inoculation  may  help : 

(a)  When  the  crop  grows  poorly,  although  some  nod- 
ules are  found. 

(b)  When  the  start  was  good,  and  the  seed  poor. 

3.  Inoculation  is  never  needed: 

(a)  When  an  abundance  of  nodules  are  produced  al- 
ready. 

(b)  When  the  soil  is  supplied  already  abundantly  with 
nitrogen. 

4.  Bacteria  are  not  plant  food. 

Neither  bacteria  nor  the  cultures  of  nitrogen-fixing  bac- 
teria are  to  be  regarded  as  plant  food.  A  bacterium  is 
not  nitrogen,  nor  is  it  composed  of  nitrogen.  It  renders 
nitrogen  of  the  air  available  for  the  legume. 


CHAPTER  XVII 
DRAINING  THE  LAND 

A  wise  man  once  was  asked :  "What  is  the  most  valu- 
able discovery  in  agriculture?"  He  answered:  "Drain- 
age." 

In  draining  the  land,  we  are  concerned,  for  the  most 
part,  with  the  surplus  water  and  its  removal.  For  drain- 
age acts  thus :  it  removes  the  gravitational  water — 
the  kind  that  often  injures  plants,  the  kind  that  drowns 
the  roots,  and  it  increases  the  quantity  of  capillary  water 
— the  kind  useful  to  plants,  the  kind  that  draws  into  solu- 
tion the  needed  plant-food  salts,  and  secures  them  for 
roots  and  stems  and  leaves  and  for  all  the  growing  tis- 
sues of  the  plant. 

Here  are  some  of  the  good  things  that  drainage  does : 

1.  It  deepens  the  soil  in  which  grow  plant  roots. 

2.  It  better  aerates  the  soil. 

3.  It  enables  manure  to  act  more  beneficially. 

4.  It  allows  a  better  warming  of  the  soil. 

5.  It  lengthens  the  season. 

6.  It  permits  tillage  operations  to  be  done  more  easily. 

7.  It  enables  plants  to  resist  drought,  because  the  roots 
go  into  the  ground  earlier  in  the  season. 

8.  It  prevents  washing. 

9.  It  makes  the  soil  more  sanitary. 

10.  It  makes  better  crops. 

Deepening  the  soil. — It  is  perfectly  evident  to  any 
thinking  man  that  a  soil  that  is  well  drained  is  a  more 
habitable  place  for  plant  roots,  than  one  filled  with  stand- 
ing water.  We  do  not  need  to  theorize  about  this  propo- 


DRAINING   THE    LAND 


153 


sition.     You  need  only  to  observe,  as  you  pass  along  any 

highway,  to  see  how  slight  is  vegetation,  and  how  sickly 

are  cultivated  crops  on  lands  not  drained.     A  soil  that  is 

constantly  saturated  with  water  will  not  permit  a  good 

growth  of  crops.     The  essential  conditions 

for  growth   are  wanting.     It  is  understood 

readily  that  where  a  tile  drain,  or,  in  fact, 

any  sort  of  substitute,  when  constructed  and 

placed  three  or  four  feet  below  the  surface 

of  the  ground,  the  water  level  is  naturally 

lowered  to  a  point  on  a  level  with  the  bottom 

of  the  drain.     Drainage,  therefore,  provides 

a  large  pasture  ground  for  plant  roots  and 

a  deep  one,  also,  as  a  consequence,  for  all 

time  to  come. 

You  have  proven,  in  your  own  experience, 
that  roots  will  not  grow  in  a  soil  saturated 
with  water.  They  try  to  do  so  for  a  time,  but 
soon  sicken  and  die.  If  the  water  table  is  only 
10  or  12  inches  below  the  surface  of  the  soil, 
the  roots  are  obliged  to  grow  within  that  limit. 
But  if  the  water  table  is  lowered  another 
foot,  the  feeding  and  growing  limit  for  roots 
is  deepened  and,  consequently,  enlarged,  to 
the  benefit  of  the  plant  and  to  the  crop. 

Perfectly  drained  soils,  drained  to  a  depth 
of  three  or  four  feet,  show  plant  roots 
throughout  this  body  limit.  It  stands  to  rea- 
son that  such  a  root-foraging  ground  is 
more  desirable  than  a  shallow  one,  made  so  by  a  high 
water  table  near  the  surface  of  the  ground.  And  here 
are  the  reasons :  there  is  more  room  for  the  roots ;  there 
is  more  plant  food  to  be  secured  ;  there  is  more  warmth 
in  the  soil ;  there  is  more  air  to  be  used ;  hence,  there  is 


RED    CLOVER 
ROOTS 

Showing   why 

the  soil  should 

be  deep 


154  SOILS 

a  more  comfortable  home  for  the  roots  provided  in  drained 
land. 

Air  gets  into  the  soil. — It  has  been  pointed  out  that  both 
air  and  oxygen  are  essential  for  good  root  development, 
as  well  as  for  high  crop  production.  But  air  and  oxygen 
are  excluded  from  the  soil  when  water  fills  up  all  of  the 
air  spaces  in  the  soil.  Drainage  removes  this  water  and, 
hence,  increases  the  air  content  of  the  soil.  Air  goes 
just  as  deeply  into  the  soil  as  the  water  table  allows,  and 
as  it  goes  down,  it  leaves  all  along  its  way  its  helpful 
gifts — scores  of  beneficial  influences  that  stand  for  better 
crops. 

And  still  two  other  things :  It  supplies  the  roots  with 
oxygen,  and  it  breaks  down  complex  substances,  fitting 
them  for  the  call  that  other  plants  soon  will  make. 

Manure  is  made  more  effective. — Vegetable  matter  and 
other  humus-forming  materials  are  of  no  value  in  the 
soil,  until  they  are  thoroughly  decomposed  and  destroyed. 
Hence,  it  follows  that  good  results,  from  the  use  of  ma- 
nure, will  be  obtained  in  the  highest  degree  only  when 
the  rotting  influences  of  the  soil  are  best. 

For  undrained  soils  do  their  work  in  this  respect  very 
unsatisfactorily.  The  drained  soil  makes  the  best  use  of 
manures.  It  has  been  shown  frequently  that  chemical 
manures  are  used  most  wisely  in  connection  with  high 
physical  improvement  only,  with  good  tillage,  good 
drainage,  good  cultivation,  and  with  a  free  use  of  humus- 
making  materials. 

There  is  in  this  connection  another  point  to  be  con- 
sidered :  Useful  bacteria  find  favorable  development  only 
in  the  presence  of  an  abundance  of  oxygen ;  they  find 
enjoyable  the  work  of  breaking  down  compounds,  and  of 
building  up  nitrates,  only  when  air  is  furnished  abun- 
dantly, and  when  the  soil  is  open  and  warm  and  sweet. 


DRAINING  THE   LAND 


155 


But  they  do  not  like  wet  soils  and  in  them  they  do  but 
little  work.  On  the  other  hand,  much  work  is  done  by 
the  nitrogen-freeing  bacteria :  the  evil-doers  which  re- 
lease soil-nitrogen,  and  send  it  back  again  into  the  atmos- 
phere. Here  is  the  way  these  bacteria  work :  When 
given  soils  that  are  well  drained,  good  bacteria  add  to  the 
nitrogen  store ;  when  given  soils  that  are  wet  and  un- 
drained,  evil-doing  bacteria  rise  in  power  and  take  from 
the  stores  in  the  soil.  In  the  first  instance,  constructive 
workers  are  at  hand  and  in  the  second,  destructive  ones. 
Consequently,  if  you  would  have  the  help  of  the  benefi- 
cial and  would  drive  the  harmful  away,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  have  manures  of  all  kinds  most  effectively  used, 
you  must  pay  close  attention  to  draining  the  land. 

The  soil  is  made  warmer. — Wet  soils  are  always  cold. 
And  since  warmth  is  necessary  for  both  germination  and 


DRY    SOIL 

IUAM  I2M  2PM 


WET    SOIL 

10AM          12M  2PM 


H.  HUMUS;  C.CLAY;  S.SAND 

SOIL   TEMPERATURE 

ra'ures  were  taken  for  seven  consecutive  days— averages  being  shown 
here 


for   active   growth   of  plants,    it   follows    that   wet   soils 
never  can  equal  well-drained  ones  \\hcn  it  comes  to  high 
production.     It  is  out  of  the  question  to  expect  other- 
wise. 
The  season  is  lengthened. — Wet  soils  often  become  dry 


156  SOILS 

in  the  summer,  when  hot  and  dry  weather  is  the  rule, 
but  for  a  period  so  short  no  paying  crop  can  result.  Na- 
ture is  too  slow  here  and  your  work  will  be  unsatisfactory 
and  unprofitable,  if  you  depend  upon  her,  alone,  to  drain 
areas  naturally  wet.  Better  not  do  it.  Use  tiles  in- 
stead. The  first  noticeable  difference,  after  drainage  is 
done,  is  the  lengthening  of  the  growing  season :  work 
may  be  begun  earlier  in  the  spring  and  it  may  be  extend- 
ed far  into  the  autumn.  This  means  that  stagnant  water  is 
removed  from  the  land,  both  in  the  spring  and  in  the  fall, 


A   WAY  TO   HELP  THE  DRAINAGE 
Plowing  clay  in  eight-step  lands 

to  the  advantage  of  your  work,  your  crop,  and  yourself. 
You  can  handle,  often,  well-drained  soils  three  to  five 
weeks  earlier  than  like  soils  in  an  undrained  condition. 

Tillage  is  more  easily  done. — Soils  are  injured  fre- 
quently (if  not  ruined  for  the  time  being)  by  tillage 
operations,  if  done  when  the  land  is  wet.  It  is  perfectly 
evident,  therefore,  that  a  soil  undrained,  either  naturally 
or  artificially,  makes  all  tillage  operations  a  burden,  and 
the  work  a  drag. 


DRAINING   THE    LAND  157 

Plowing  is  done  often  later  in  the  season,  consequently 
often  unsatisfactorily,  and  the  crop  suffers,  for  it  is 
planted  in  haste ;  and,  as  a  result,  it  is  hindered  through- 
out its  period  of  growth.  Drained  lands  are  easily 
tilled  and  easily  cultivated.  They  permit  all  tillage 
operations  to  be  done  easily  and  satisfactorily,  and 
at  a  time  when  most  urgently  needed  or  de- 
manded. 

Less  danger  of  drought. — One  of  the  proved  facts  that 
scientific  investigation  has  shown  is  this :  a  soil  contains 
more  available  moisture  after  drainage  than  before.  The 
explanation  of  this  seeming  inconsistency  lies  in  the  fact 
that  the  physical  condition  of  undrained  soil  is  being 
improved :  the  soil  is  made  loose  and  mellow ;  the  soil 
grains  are  more  open ;  and  the  interspaces  admit  and 
hold  air — the  capillary  water  is  more  freely  introduced, 
when  demanded,  and  more  readily  handed  out  to  the 
roots,  as  they  call  for  it. 

Just  bear  in  mind  that  stagnant  water  is  of  no  help  to 
plants.  They  cannot  use  it.  Furthermore,  it  is  repul- 
sive to  them.  Better  get  rid  of  it,  depending  rather  upon 
the  subsoil  and  the  capillary  tubes  composed  of  the  soil 
grains,  for  the  water  supply  during  a  complete  growing 
period.  Of  course,  rains  are  to  be  desired — they  are 
positively  needed  for  most  lands — but  their  waters  must 
be  taken  into  the  soil  and  distributed  into  all  of  its  parts : 
a  tiny  bit  must  be  given  to  each  soil  grain  to  hold  and  to 
care  for  until  some  root  forces  it  away.  And  all  surplus 
amounts  must  be  carried  away,  that  no  injury  may  be 
done  either  plant  or  soil. 

When  you  open  and  mellow  and  fine  the  soil  you  in- 
crease the  moisture  content  of  the  soil.  When  this  is 
done,  a  larger  store  of  water  is  secured  in  the  soil,  down 
to  a  considerable  depth,  all  of  which  will  be  available, 


158 


SOILS 


when  dry  weather  arrives,  furnishing  what  wet  soils  fail 
always  in  doing. 

Washing  is  prevented. — If  a  soil  is  saturated  with 
water,  the  only  means  of  escape  for  rains  is  by  means  of 
surface  washing,  a  most  injurious  operation  for  the  soil. 
For  this  reason :  surface  washing  picks  up  dissolved  plant 
food,  and  fine  particles  of  soil,  and  carries  both  to  lower 


LOSING   SOILS  BY   HEAVY   RAINS 

The  loss  of  surface  soil  by  washing  is  often  very  serious.  This  soil  has  been 
washed  to  the  edge  of  the  field  and  down  into  the  Rulch:  it  is  the  finest  and 
richest  soil.  If  the  plow  had  been  run  deeper,  and  the  land  had  been  culti- 
vated crosswise  of  the  slope,  instead  of  lengthwise,  it  would  not  have  been 
washed  so  badly.  This  soil  needed  cultivation  also.  Note  the  crust  and 
cracks  at  the  bottom  of  the  picture  ;  no  wonder  water  does  not  get  into 
the  soil 

depths.     I  have  seen  vast  areas,  gullied,  and  ridged,  and 
torn,  and  made  so  by  surface  washing  of  the  land. 

Often  plowing  is  done  poorly :  so  shallow  that  rains 
never  find  their  way  down  into  the  soil,  carrying  as  they 
go  their  good  effects  to  the  lower  depths ;  but,  on  the 
other  hand,  they  flee  along  the  hillsides,  carrying  away 
treasures  that  are  valuable  and  sadly  needed,  just  where 


DRAINING  THE  LAND  159 

they  are — taking  them  from  the  place  where  most  able  to 
do  good.  Drainage  provides,  therefore,  both  an  entrance 
into,  and,  at  the  same  time,  an  exit  out  of  the  soil,  for  all 
water  that  falls  as  rain. 

The  sanitary  effect  of  drainage. — Wet  soils  are  sour. 
They  are  cold  and  uninviting.  They  are  attractive  nei- 
ther to  plants  nor  to  bacteria.  Since  these  are  chiefly 
interested  in  the  soil,  their  comfort  and  their  wishes  must 
be  obeyed  first.  When  both  call  for  drainage,  it 
should  be  provided. 

Large  tracts  of  land,  now  given  over  to  swamps  and 
marshes,  and  which  are  in  poor  sanitary  condition,  would, 
if  drained,  be  most  useful  areas  for  crop  production  and 
highly  remunerative  returns. 

Not  all  soils  need  drainage. — You  should  not  think  that 
all  soils  will  be  improved  by  drainage :  far  from  it.  Con- 
sidering the  whole  area  of  our  country,  the  total  area  of 
land  that  needs  drainage  is  small.  We  have  vast  areas 
of  swamp  lands  and  heavy  clay  lands,  that  certainly  need 
drainage.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  many  of  our  agricul- 
tural lands  are  naturally  drained :  they  have  open  sub- 
soils that  readily  allow  surface  soakings  to  find  channels 
of  escape. 

You  should  be  able  to  determine  for  yourself  where 
drainage  is  necessary.  What  has  been  said  before  in  this 
chapter  will  indicate  the  type  of  lands  that  needs  drain- 
age, and  that  furnishes  a  fair  diagnosis  of  drainage  cases. 
If  your  land  needs  drainage,  by  all  means  provide  it.  I 
have  known  of  many  instances  where  a  single  crop  has 
paid  for  the  entire  cost  of  land  drainage.  Often  soils, 
more  or  less  worthless,  are  made  highly  productive  by  a 
thorough  system  of  tiling. 

The  kind  of  drain. — We  have  two  forms  of  drains :  open 
and  covered.  In  case  of  the  former,  a  simple  channel  or 


160  SOILS 

open  ditch  is  cut.  This  furnishes  a  receptacle  for  surface 
and  seepage  waters,  thereby  relieving  the  land  joining  it 
of  its  surplus  water. 

The  covered  drain  is  made  of  tile,  stone,  wood,  brush, 
and  boards,  and  furnishes  a  satisfactory  exit  for  soakage 
and  seepage  water.  It  is,  by  far,  the  most  satisfactory 
kind  of  drain,  although  there  are  instances  when  an  open 
drain  is  required.  The  objections  to  the  open  drain  are : 
The  constant  attention  that  is  required  to  keep  it  in  order, 
to  keep  its  banks  from  caving  in,  to  keep  out  weeds  that 
grow  there  abundantly,  and  to  overcome  the  loss  of  so 
much  land,  which  brings  but  small  returns. 

Open  drains  are  often  made  with  banks  sloping 
outward.  This  admits  less  loss  in  waste,  since 
grass  affords  pasture  and  protects  the  sides  at  the 
same  time. 

Under-drains :  many  kinds  of  material. — You  may  use 
quite  a  number  of  materials  for  constructing  under-drains. 
The  following  kinds  of  materials  frequently  have  been 
used:  stone,  brush-,  poles,  boards,  and  tile.  With  one  ex- 
ception (tiles),  these  materials  are  out  of  date  and  now 
but  seldom,  if  ever,  used.  They  have  served  their  pur- 
pose in  their  day  but  that  was  before  the  tile  drain  came. 
Now,  compared  with  tiles,  all  other  forms  are  inefficient 
and  of  little  worth. 

The  stone  drain  has  been  used  a  great  deal,  even  to- 
day it  occasionally  is  in  favor.  When  well  constructed,  it 
is  lasting  and  efficient.  But  it  costs  too  much.  To  make 
the  stone  drain  properly,  a  wide  trench  is  necessary,  thus 
necessitating  the  moving  of  an  immense  amount  of  dirt. 
Besides,  a  tremendous  quantity  of  stone  is  required,  and 
the  labor,  for  the  entire  work,  makes  the  stone  drain  many 
times  more  costly  than  the  tile  drain.  It  seems  to  me  it 
is  a  good  deal  better  to  use  all  stone  accumulations  for 


DRAINING   THE   LAND  l6l 

roads  or  bridges,  and  to  call  tiles  into  use  for  every  form 
of  drainage  work. 

It  may  be  said,  in  passing,  that  brush,  poles,  and  box 
drains, — in  fact,  any  form  of  wooden  drains, — are  unsatis- 
factory, for  the  reason  that  these  materials,  sooner  or 
later,  rot  and  decay,  thus  requiring  the  entire  operation  to 
be  repeated  again. 

Tiles:  the  perfect  drain. — Tile  drains  are  the  cheapest 
that  can  be  used.  It  would  not  be  too  much  to  say  that 
drainage  by  tiles  is  the  perfection  of  drainage.  Thou- 
sands of  practical  tests  in  this  country  have  demonstrated 
the  value  of  tile  drainage,  for  these  reasons:  (i)  when 
once  laid,  a  good  tile  drain  will  last  for  centuries ;  (2)  the 
tile  is  out  of  reach  of  all  cultivating  tools ;  (3)  tiles  fur- 
nish the  cheapest  possible  means  of  removing  excess  of 
water  from  the  soil. 

Tiles  have  become  so  common,  there  is  no  section  in  the 
country,  to-day,  where  drainage  is  practiced,  that  they 
are  not  available  and  known.  You  will  be  making  a  mis- 
take, most  certainly,  by  employing  any  sort  of  drain  other 
than  tile. 

We  have  many  kinds  of  tiles.  Many  kinds,  of  many 
makes,  and  of  many  shapes  and  styles,  all  of  which  have 
been  put  upon  the  market.  It  is  only  necessary  to  say 
that  the  round  tile  is  most  in  favor,  and  most  generally 
accepted,  wherever  tile  draining  is  performed.  One  of  the 
advantages  of  the  round  style  is  the  ease  of  laying  it,  and 
the  ease  of  connecting  it  with  the  preceding  tile. 

Distance  between  drains. — The  lay  of  the  land,  the  fall, 
the  nature  of  the  soil,  all  come  into  prominence,  and  must 
be  given  due  weight  in  laying  out  any  system  of  land 
drainage. 

Lands  that  are  of  heavy  clay,  for  instance,  necessarily 
will  call  for  more  tile  than  other  lands  that  are  more  open 


1 62  SOILS 

and  friable.  Level  lands,  that  naturally  hold  all  the  water 
that  falls  as  rain,  require  a  more  perfect  system  of  drain- 
age than  others  that  are  relieved  by  surface  washing. 

The  observing  farmer  readily  will  note  the  fields,  or 
portions  of  fields,  that  call  for  land  drainage.  As  soon  as 
you  get  the  system  fixed  in  mind,  start  the  work  ;  and  then 
let  nothing  come  in  the  way  that  may  prevent  its  com- 
pletion. 

Depth  of  drain. — The  deeper  that  drains  are  placed,  the 
larger  the  surface  area  they  will  drain.  Judgment  will  be 
required  in  this  case.  Certainly,  tile  drains  should 
scarcely,  if  ever,  be  placed  at  a  depth  of  more  than  five 
feet — four  feet,  perhaps,  being  the  limit.  And  there  are 
also  but  few  instances  where  tiles  should  be  laid  at  a 
depth  of  less  than  two  feet.  The  height  of  the  outlet,  of 
course,  will  be  an  all-controlling  factor  as  to  the  depth  at 
or  near  the  outlet. 

Roots  of  growing  plants  often  play  havoc  with  tile 
drains :  by  crowding  into  them  to  get  air  and  moisture. 
Of  course,  they  soon  fill  the  drain  and  completely  destroy 
it.  Where  tile  drains  run  beneath  trees  of  any  kind,  it  is 
best  to  cement  the  joints,  so  as  to  completely  prevent 
roots  from  gaining  entrance. 

In  digging  the  ditch. — Complete  sets  of  tools  now  go 
with  tile  draining.  When  the  system  has  been  deter- 
mined and  grade  has  been  established,  the  next  move  is  to 
dig  the  ditch  or  trench.  The  spading  tool  is  best  for  the 
purpose :  follow  a  line,  throw  the  dirt  on  the  most  con- 
venient side.  After  the  ditch  has  been  dug  and  the  trench 
made  ready  for  the  tile,  the  bottom  should  be  slightly 
rounded  and  thoroughly  tested,  so  as  to  be  on  an  ab- 
solutely perfect  grade, — from  two  to  six  inches  of  fall  for 
every  one  hundred  feet. 

The  tiles  are  now  laid,  one  after  another,  with  closely 


DRAINING   THE   LAND  163 

fitting  joints.  Collars  may  be  used,  or  any  broken  tile  or 
stone,  for  covering  the  poorly  fitting  joints.  When  the 
tiles  are  laid,  carefully  fix  fast  the  tile  by  banking  either 
side  with  fine  dirt,  after  which  the  trench  may  be  quickly 
filled  by  hand  or  by  plow. 

Protect  the  outlet. — More  than  one  farmer  makes  a  mis- 
take by  not  protecting  the  outlet  of  his  tile  drain.  In  the 
summer  season,  when  no  water  is  being  moved,  the  tile 
drain  becomes  a  pleasant  abiding  place,  or  often  a  shelter, 
for  rats,  rabbits,  and  other  hole-seeking  animals.  It  fre- 
quently happens  that  these  animals  get  caught  in  the  tile, 
and  are  unable  to  extricate  themselves,  thus  dying  in  their 
underground  retreat.  Their  remains  offer  a  splendid  lodg- 
ment for  silt  and  clay,  and  soon  completely  fill  up  the 
drain,  rendering  it  useless,  and,  to  be  repaired,  a  more  or 
less  costly  undertaking. 

A  wire  screen  may  be  provided  with  little  labor  and 
with  no  expense,  that  will  completely  protect  the  outlet 
against  these  mishaps,  and  this  will  keep  the  drain  ser- 
viceable for  a  time  beyond  estimation. 

While  tile  drainage,  on  a  large  scale,  and  for  the  entire 
country,  is  unnecessary,  there  still  remains  the  fact  that 
in  every  section  of  the  country  there  are  certain  small 
areas  that  will  be  greatly  improved,  in  fact,  even  remade, 
at  little  expense  and  cost,  by  under-drainage  through  tiles, 
while,  on  the  other  hand,  in  some  sections  there  are  some 
soils  so  impervious  that  under-drainage  is  impracticable. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 
SOIL  WATER:  HOW  IT  IS  LOST;  HOW  IT  MAY  BE  HELD 

The  operation  of  loosening  and  stirring  the  soil  usually 
is  spoken  of  as  tillage  or  cultivation.  Heretofore  four 
reasons  have  been  advanced  in  support  of  tillage :  it  in- 
creases the  root  room  for  the  plant ;  it  admits  air  into  the 
soil  so  that  plant  food  may  be  more  readily  prepared ;  it 
secures  oxygen  for  plant  roots ;  and  it  destroys  weeds. 


THE  RESULT   WHEN    WATER  IS    SECURED  AND   HELD 
The  annual  rainfall  where  these  sugar  beets  were  grown  was  but  20  inches 

We  must  not  overlook  two  other  tillage  operations  that 
stand  out  prominently  in  any  rational  treatment  of  the 
soil.  These  are :  the  rainfall  is  enabled  to  enter  the  soil 
easily ;  the  loss  of  water  by  evaporation  is  checked. 

While  each  of  these  operations  deserves  careful  atten- 
tion, the  last  two  are  open  to  more  gentle  treatment  and 
to  more  sensitive  consideration  than  the  operations  pre- 
viously described. 

Transpiration:  the  exit  through  the  leaves. — We  have 
learned  that  roots  gather  moisture  and  carry  it  into  the 


SOIL  WATER:    HOW  IT  is  LOST  165 

plant.  This  moisture,  or  water,  conveys  the  soil  nutri- 
ment with  it  to  the  plants.  It  then  passes  on  up  through 
the  stems  and  leaves,  to  be  exhaled,  finally,  through  the 
leaves.  The  loss  of  water  to  the  soil,  by  this  means,  is 
very  large.  For  ordinary  crops,  from  300  to  500  pounds 
of  water  are  required  to  produce  one  pound  of  dry  matter. 


EFFECT   OF   CULTIVATION   OF   CORN    CROP 

Plot  at  right  received  ordinary  good  cultivation,  and  yielded  64  bushels  of  corn 
per  acre.  Plot  at  left  received  no  cultivation,  and  yielded  4  bushels  of  corn 
per  acre 


It  has  been  estimated  that  for  average  production  of  some 
common  crops,  the  amount  of  water  required  for  pro- 
ducing a  single  acre  is  as  follows :  Clover,  400  tons  ;  corn, 
350  tons ;  grapes,  375  tons  ;  oats,  375  tons  ;  potatoes,  450 
tons  ;  wheat,  350  tons  ;  and  peas,  375  tons. 

As  the  rainfall  during  the  growing  season  is  not  suffi- 
cient as  a  means  of  supplying  water  to  the  crop,  the  water 
stored  in  the  soil  must  be  drawn  upon  considerably.  This 
fact  lays  stress  upon  the  importance  of  large  water  sup- 
plies in  the  soil,  not  as  stagnant  water,  but  as  capillary 


i66 


SOILS 


water,  closely  identified  with  soil  grains.  It  should  be  re- 
membered that  drainage  applies  to  lands  only  that  are 
flat  or  naturally  wet,  and  then  mainly  in  the  early  part  of 
the  season,  while  the  saving  of  moisture  is  the  main  factor 
in  most  soils. 

Evaporation:  drying  out  by  sun  and  wind. — A  second 
source  of  water  loss  is  due  to  the  action  of  the  sun  and 
wind,  which  cause  water  vapor  to  rise  directly  from  the 


CULTIVATION   CHECKS  EVAPORATION 

We  cultivate  to  kill  weeds,  to  conserve  the  moisture  in  the  soil,  and  to  render 
plant  food  available 

surface  of  the  soil.  It  matters  not  how  much  or  how 
little  moisture  there  is  present  in  the  soil ;  just  the  same, 
there  is  a  constant  loss,  and  notably  so  if  the  atmos- 
phere is  hot  or  dry.  This  escape  of  moisture  is  of  prime 
importance  to  every  farmer.  It  is  needed  in  the  soil ;  par- 
ticularly is  this  true  in  dry  seasons  and  during  the  sum- 
mer months. 

While  it  is  true  that  every  soil  has  a  reserve  store  of 
water,  it  is  just  as  true  that  this  reserve  supply  often 
gets  low,  and  especially  is  this  so  when  the  weather  is  hot 


SOIL  WATER:   HOW  IT  is  LOST 


i67 


and  dry.  Capillarity  causes  the  trouble.  We  suppose 
that  capillarity  is  an  agent  at  work  bringing  water  from 
lower  depths  up  to  roots  for  our  good,  only;  but  let  us 
remember  that  this  same  force  carries  water  higher  than 
the  root  region,  merely ;  it  carries  it  up  to  the  very  top, 
where,  when  in  contact  with  the  surface,  it  is  licked  up 
by  winds  and  atmosphere,  and  borne  away  beyond  reach 
of  soil  or  plant  or  man. 

Cultivation  checks  evaporation. — It  now  becomes  mani- 
fest that  soils  must  be  cultivated,  not  only  to  make  them 
wholesome  and  attractive  to  seeds,  and  to  kill  weeds,  but 
to  cultivate  them,  also,  to  conserve  this  moisture — to 
check  the  loss  occasioned  by  evaporation. 

Naturally,  a  question  arises :  Does  cultivation  conserve 
moisture  in  the  soil?  In  answer  to  this,  let  us  consult  the 
soil  about  the  matter.  In  New  Hampshire  the  observed 
differences  between  two  plots  are  given  below : 


ist  Foot 
Per  cent. 

zd    Foot 
Per  cent. 

3d    Foot 
Per  cent. 

4th  Foot 
Per  cent. 

Cultivated  3  inches  deep  
No  cultivation  given  

14.-.6 

24.82 

*3-33 

22.95 

I8.S4 

Di  fference  

3.89 

4.41 

Here  is  a  saving  of  352.64  tons  of  water  per  acre  on 
the  cultivated  plot.  Certainly,  a  saving  of  tremendous 
bearing  during  seasons  of  dry  weather. 

Water  must  be  carried  into  the  soil. — As  a  preliminary 
step  in  conserving  soil  moisture,  water  must  be  admitted 
to  the  soil.  And  right  here  is  one  of  the  spots  where  it  is 
well  to  give  close  attention:  you  must  get  water  into  the 
soil  before  you  can  save  it.  Often  the  supply  is  short,  and 


1 68  SOILS 

the  least  bit  wasted  acts  as  a  handicap  for  the  coming 
crop.  Good  farm  practice  aims  to  have  and  to  hold  the 
surface  of  the  soil  in  such  condition  that  the  whole  of  the 
rain  supply  shall  be  received  into  it,  and  by  gravitation 
drawn  to  the  lower  regions  where  the  water  stores  are 
held  and  preserved. 

\Yhenever  the  surface  of  the  soil  is  tight  and  stiff  and 
impervious,  you  may  be  sure  that  a  good  part  of  every 
rain  will  never  get  into  the  soil,  but  will  be  lost  by  surface 
drainage.  And  you  must  aim  to  get  the  rains  of  the  entire 
year;  not  those  that  come  during  the  growing  season, 
only,  but  those  of  fall  and  winter  and  early  spring,  as  well. 
Often  the  summer  rains  fall  far  short  of  the  plants'  de- 
mands, even  though  they  are  utilized  in  their  entirety. 
Good  crops  often  are  produced  when  the  rainfall,  during 
the  period  of  growth,  is  no  more  than  a  quarter  of  the 
quantity  demanded  and  used  by  the  plant.  This  is  possi- 
ble solely  for  the  reason  that  there  has  been  got  into  the 
soil  a  large  part  of  the  water  that  fell  as  rain  earlier  in  the 
season — during  the  fall  and  winter  months. 

It  is  not  stating  the  facts  too  loosely  to  say  that  in 
humid  regions  as  much  as  25  per  cent,  of  the  entire  rain- 
fall is  lost  to  the  soil,  and  for  this  reason  :  The  streams 
get  it,  because  the  surface  crust  acts  so  slowly  in  absorb- 
ing the  waters  that  come  to  it,  the  real  amount  obtained 
being  much  less  than  what  it  ought  to  be.  And  the  same 
fault  is  applicable  to  semi-arid  regions.  While  the  loss 
here  is  not  so  great,  it  is  only  because  the  rainfall  is  less 
and  the  land  more  level  and  attractive  to  rain.  A  loss  in 
this  way  of  10  per  cent. — a  most  conservative  estimate — 
means  much,  considering  the  fact  that  the  average  rain- 
fall is  but  twenty  inches  annually. 

It  will  be  worth  your  while  to  remember  that  the  water 
that  runs  off  of  the  surface  is  not  only  lost  to  plants,  but 


SOIL  WATER:   HOW  IT  is  LOST  169 

it  washes  also  the  surface  and  carries  away  with  it  plant 
food  and  a  great  deal  of  soil.  It  should  be  your  aim  to 
keep  the  soil  loose  and  mellow  on  the  surface,  so  that 
water  may  be  absorbed  freely  and  abundantly,  and  then 


A    HOME-MADE    ROLLER 

It  does  good  work  as  a  roller,  and  leaves  the  surface  of  the  soil  in  such  a  way 
that  the  water  is  prevented  from  escaping.  This  sort  of  roller  must  be  run 
crosswise  the  slope  and  not  with  it 


there  will  be  enough  to  supply  plants  when  the  hot,  dry 
part  of  summer  comes. 

The  practical  bearing  is  this :  the  surface  of  the  soil 
must  be  kept  loose  and  open  so  that  as  rapidly  as  rain 
falls  it  may  be  admitted  into  the  upper  soil,  from  whence  it 
can  work  gradually  down  to  the  great  storehouse  beneath, 
to  be  held  and  preserved  until  later  called  into  use. 

Surface  breaking  a  help. — This  explains  one  helpful 
side  of  fall  plowing:  the  stiff,  hardened  crust  is  broken 


I7O  SOILS 

and  water  freely  enters,  the  ridges  and  hollows  occa- 
sioned by  the  plowing  operation,  acting  together,  serve  as 
tiny  basins  for  catching  and  holding  all  little  excesses, 
until  the  greater  part  of  the  contribution  can  be  got  into 
the  soil.  The  entire  turned  portion  of  the  soil  further 
serves  as  a  sponge  for  the  time  being,  until  the  water  just 
received  can  be  given  to  the  interspaces  of  the  soil  below. 
In  North  Carolina  a  test  showed  142  tons  per  acre  of 
water  more  in  a  fall-plowed  soil,  than  for  similar  soil 
plowed  late  in  the  spring. 

The  importance  of  this  increase  is  readily  seen :  more 
water  is  stored  in  the  soil  and  more  is  available  for  the 
crop  later  in  the  season  at  a  time  when  the  demands  will 
be  great  and  urgent.  Similar  results  were  obtained  in 
Xew  Hampshire.  Out  of  fourteen  determinations  made, 
fall  plowings  showed  larger  water  content  in  every  case, 
the  range  being  from  72  to  264  tons  per  acre  above  like 
soils  that  were  plowed  during  the  latter  part  of  May. 

A  most  frequent  and  conspicuous  observation,  espe- 
cially during  periods  of  drought,  is  this :  Corn  or  cotton 
or  other  cultivated  crop,  day  after  day,  week  after  week, 
contends  against  extreme  heat  and  drought,  without  rain 
or  prospect  of  rain ;  despairs  not,  though  the  soil  is  dry 
and  hot ;  grows  on  and  increases  in  size  and  strength,  al- 
though but  little,  to  pass  at  last  beyond  danger  because 
rain  has  come,  because  the  period  of  trial  is  over,  because 
the  earth  is  replenished  again.  Why  is  this  so,  when  all 
about  are  fields  of  similar  crops  starved,  ruined,  if  not 
dead?  Simply  because  many  months  before  water  found 
admission  into  the  soil,  and  there  remained  until  the 
crucial  test  was  made — water  was  demanded — the  call 
was  given,  which,  heeded,  preserved  the  crop,  and  added 
fresh  laurels  to  the  crop  and  to  its  keeper. 

It  is  stated  that  often  if  but  a  half  inch  more  of  water 


SOIL  WATER  :     HOW   IT  IS  LOST 


171 


were  in  the  soil,  a  destroyed,  withered  crop  might  have 
been  saved. 

These  facts  point  to  a  general  conclusion :  fall  plow- 
ing, because  it  offers  an  uneven,  broken,  open  surface  to 
the  rain,  enables  water  to  enter  the  soil,  and  increases,  in 
a  marked  degree,  its  water  content. 


DISKING  THE  GROUND  BEFORE   PLOWING 

A  good  practise,  but  not  generally  followed.     It  helps  to  make  a  fine  seed- 
bed, saves  moisture,  makes  plowing  easier  and  increases  the  crop 


This  same  conclusion  applies  to  early  spring  plowing 
and  to  disking,  and  for  the  same  reason. 

Lands  that  often  suffer  for  water  later  in  the  season, 
may  be  helped  much  by  running  the  disk  before  plowing 
time  (as  a  part  of  land  preparation  for  the  seed).  Old 
corn  lands,  pea  stubble,  and  worn-out  pastures  and  mead- 
ows, especially,  are  helped  by  this  practice.  When  these 
are  plowed  a  few  weeks  later,  the  soil  will  pulverize  more 
readily,  and  it  will  be  fitted  for  seeding  with  less  effort 


172  SOILS 

and  expense.  I  have  come  to  appreciate  the  disk  harrow 
most  highly  for  this  work.  The  labor  and  expense  inci- 
dental to  disking  before  plowing  is  more  than  met  by  the 
lessened  amount  of  both  at  the  time  of  preparation.  And 
then  the  work  is  better  done.  A  corn  crop  has  been 
known  to  show  its  appreciation  by  yielding  8.6  bushels 
more  per  acre  in  favor  of  this  sort  of  treatment. 

Saving  water  by  cultivation. — The  work  of  the  farmer 
is  to  induce  water  to  enter  the  soil  both  in  summer  and 
winter.  But  it  is  more  than  this.  He  must  save  it,  once 
it  is  secured.  And  now  we  come  back  to  our  original 
proposition  :  cultivation  checks  the  water  loss.  Until  you 
grasp  this  idea,  until  you  come  to  a  full  realization  of  its 
force  and  importance,  you  will  never  be  able  to  compel 
your  soils  to  expend  their  fullest  powers  toward  the  pro- 
duction of  maximum  crops. 

The  principle  of  moisture-saving,  briefly  stated,  is  this : 
Water  is  carried  from  the  water  storehouse  of  the  lower 
depths  of  the  soil  by  capillarity.  It  rises  in  the  soil  from 
soil  particle  to  soil  particle,  just  as  oil  creeps  up  in  the 
lamp-wick.  It  moves  sidewise  and  diagonally  and  up- 
ward; it  goes  in  the  direction  of  the  hardest  pull. 

But  always,  in  the  end,  unless  prevented  by  some  ob- 
stacle— a  dry  mulch  so  acts — it  finds  the  surface  of  the 
soil,  at  which  point  it  passes  into  vapor  and  leaps  into 
the  atmosphere. 

You  have  no  reason  to  doubt  this  principle,  for  you 
have  seen  its  evidence  a  thousand  times.  You  have 
picked  a  board  from  the  ground,  or  kicked  a  stone  from 
its  snug  pocket,  or  taken  leaves  or  grass  or  straw  from  the 
bed  made,  and  you  found  that  beneath  either  there 
was  wetness ;  even  a  great  deal,  although  on  every  side 
the  surrounding  soil  was  dry  and  hot. 

There  was  but  one  way  by  which  this  could  happen  :  by 


SOIL  WATER:   HOW  IT  is  LOST 


173 


capillarity  being  at  work,  by  water  leaving  the  lower 
stores  and  rising  upwards  to  the  surface.  Not  to  escape 
in  this  case,  however,  because  the  stone,  or  board,  or 
vegetable  matter,  by  acting  as  a  blanket,  kept  the  moving 


A  STONE  MULCH 

Although  many  stones  are  present,  the  soil  is  fertile  and  produces  profitable 
fruit.    The  stones  serve  as  a  mulch 


water  from  rising  higher  and  higher  and  up  to  the  sur- 
face ;  and  now  no  wind  can  come  and  take  away  the 
water  just  brought  up. 

This  principle  is  now  well  established,  and  from  it  has 
been  developed  the  practice  of  moisture-saving  by  pro- 
viding a  layer  of  loose,  dry  soil  or  mulch,  from  two  to  four 
inches  deep,  at  the  surface  to  serve  as  the  blanket  that 
shall  prevent  active  moisture-loss:  in  other  words,  to 
check  the  loss  by  evaporation. 


174 


SOILS 


While  frequent  stirring  of  the  soil,  during  the  growing 
season,  and,  especially,  in  the  time  of  drought,  tends  to 
produce  better  crops  than  if  this  work  is  neglected,  still, 
it  is  a  wiser  practice  to  begin  the  work  of  moisture  con- 


A  GOOD   MULCH 
It  is  four  inches  deep  and  is  doing  its  work 


serration  before  the  drought-period  sets  in.  Hence,  you 
must  have  much  water  admitted  to  the  soil.  You  must 
keep  it  and  preserve  it  until  it  is  in  greatest  demand. 

Keeping  the  surface  crust  broken  and  loose  and  mellow 
is  the  first  step ;  it  takes  the  water  in.  Conserving  it, 
after  it  is  stored,  is  the  second  step ;  it  holds  it  for  the 
plants. 

Mulch-making :  make  it  effective. — In  periods  of  abun- 
dant rainfall,  it  matters  little  to  you  whether  you  stir  your 


SOIL  WATER:   HOW  IT  is  LOST  175 

soil  a  half  inch  or  four  inches  deep ;  for  the  time  being, 
you  are  not  concerned  with  the  moisture  content.  But 
during  dry  weather  you  ought  to  be  careful :  you  ought 
to  interrupt  and  break  the  capillary  tubes,  that  connect 
the  surface  and  the  immediate  lower  region,  so  that  the 
escaping  water  may  be  kept  within  the  smallest  limits. 

Now,  as  to  the  depth  of  the  mulch :  an  inch  is  good  if 
it  is  even  and  level  and  completely  separated  from  the 
tubes  below ;  if  it  provides  an  effective  blanket  over  the 
surface  of  the  soil.  Even  with  so  slight  a  mulch,  the 
operation  is  beneficial,  and  quite  a  good  deal  more  effect- 
ive in  retaining  water  than  any  form  of  broken  tillage, 
although  four  or  five  inches  deep.  In  ordinary  practice, 
cultivating  tools  usually  are  run  two  or  three  inches 
deep,  and  hence  a  rather  good  mulch  is  thereby  secured. 

Experiments  on  this  subject  indicate  the  following: 

1.  That  the  water  content  of  the  soil  is  increased  to  a 
very  appreciable  extent,  when  the  soil  is  evenly  and  uni- 
formly stirred. 

2.  That  the  water  content  is  increased  in  proportion  to 
the  depth  and  effectiveness  of  the  mulch. 

3.  That  the  water  content  increases  less  rapidly  as  the 
depth  of  cultivation  is  increased  beyond  three  inches. 

4.  That  the  water  content  is  greater  when  cultivation  is 
provided  in  a  form  of  mulch,  than  by  ridge  culture  or 
broken  tillage. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

DRY   FARMING:  A  PROBLEM   IN  WATER 
CONSERVATION 

There  is  a  vast  empire  in  the  western  part  of  our  coun- 
try that  was  known  once  as  the  "Great  American  Des- 
ert." Here,  in  the  early  days,  short  grass  grew  and  some 
other  kinds  of  less  nutritious  food.  In  season  buffaloes 
roamed  and  fed  as  best  they  could ;  and  then  the  sturdy 
pioneer  began  his  conquest. 

He  had  examined  the  land  and  he  wanted  it.  For  the 
broad  expanse  and  the  fertile-looking  soil  tempted  him  as 
no  land  before  had  done :  so  he  came  and  battled.  The 
contest  was  severe;  it  was  trying;  it  was  exhausting. 

"Before  the  people  of  the  land 
Had    learned    to    grapple    with    strong   hand 
Soil  culture  problems,  hearts  were   sore 
And  poverty  hung  'round  the  door." 

That  was  three  decades  ago  when  the  West  was  new 
and  young,  when  fat  years  brought  hope  and  lean  years 
despair  and  anguish.  It  occurred  within  an  area  occupy- 
ing a  strip  of  nearly  three  hundred  million  acres,  extend- 
ing from  Canada  on  the  north  and  down  into  Texas  on 
the  south,  from  the  Rockies  on  the  west  to  the  Missouri 
(including  the  Dakotas  and  western  Minnesota)  on  the 
East. 

Into  this  region  people  flocked  when  it  was  opened  to 
settlement.  They  knew  not  the  land.  They  knew  little 
of  the  soil.  Little  was  known,  in  fact,  at  any  place  about 
soils.  Plants  were  new  to  the  section  and  untrained  to 
the  hardships  of  the  new  life.  People  came  from  other 


DRY  FARMING 


177 


lands  where  all  things  were  different,  and  the  pioneer 
farmer  could  farm  only  as  he  had  been  accustomed :  and 
he  failed,  for  hot  winds  caught  up  the  water  and  de- 
stroyed the  crop. 

In   those   early   days   water  protection   had   not  been 
thought  of.    The  broad  principle  of  water-saving  had  not 


KAFFIR   CORN 
A  wonderful  crop  for  semi-arid  regions 

been  put,  as  yet,  into  practice.  It  was  not  known.  So 
lands  were  permitted  to  lose  their  moisture  by  evapora- 
tion for  the  reason  that  the  farmer  knew  not  the  way  by 
which  moisture  is  made  available  for  roots:  of  the  ab- 
sorption by  the  soil  of  winter  rains  and  snow,  of  its 
remaining  in  the  soil,  protected  and  cared  for  by  tillage 


178 


SOILS 


tool  and  careful  thought  in  management  until  the  hot  dry 
months,  when  it  will  be  raised  by  capillary  attraction  to 
the  surface,  or  better,  raised  to  the  point  where  the 
root  is. 

But  the  farmer  knows  about  this  now.     Consequently, 
he  pulverizes  the  top  of  the  soil  and  he  makes  a  mulch 


CORN   PLANTER   WITH   DISK  FURROW-OPENER   ATTACHED 
A  tool  that  is  very  popular  in  dry-land  sections 

there,  especially  after  a  rain,  so  that  the  soil  tubes  or 
capillary  tubes  are  broken  at  the  top  and  the  water  cov- 
ered in. 

The  meaning  of  dry  farming. — Dry  farming  is  not  an 
attempt  to  grow  crops  without  water.  It  is  simply  a  con- 
trast to  irrigation  and  does  connect  crops  with  the  mini- 
mum rainfall.  The  semi-arid  belt  has  a  rainfall  of  from 
fifteen  to  twenty-two  or  three  inches,  annually.  If  the 
soil  be  treated  in  such  a  manner  that  the  greater  part  of 


DRY  FARMING  179 

this  rainfall  is  carried  into  the  soil  and  there  stored,  the 
crop  can  be  saved  and  a  bountiful  harvest  made,  although 
there  be  little  rain  during  the  growing  season. 

Dry  farming,  or  any  system  akin  to  water-saving,  is 
nothing  more  than  good  farming.  Its  real  meaning  is 
good  tillage  ;  it  means  water-saving  by  good  plowing  and 
frequent,  effective  cultivation ;  it  means  crop  rotation  for 
its  sanitary  effect ;  it  means  humus  for  the  soil  for  its 
many-sided  benefits.  Dry  farming  means  especially  these 
things :  water  is  to  be  absorbed,  water  is  to  be  saved,  and 
plants  are  to  be  adapted  to  their  mode  of  life. 

It  is  a  fact  beyond  controversy  that  the  average  farmer 
rarely  comprehends  just  what  land  management  means. 
He  plows,  of  course,  but  he  usually  stops  there.  Mere 
plowing  may  mean  tremendous  moisture  loss,  unless 
cultivation  be  given — the  mulch-making  kind — so  that  the 
capillary  tubes  of  the  top  and  under  soil  may  be  discon- 
nected, that  the  water  in  the  reservoir  beneath  may  not 
get  out  into  the  atmosphere  above. 

Since  the  soil  has  been  studied  in  the  laboratory  and 
field,  many  of  the  secrets,  heretofore  hidden  and  unintelli- 
gible, have  been  revealed.  This  revelation  tells  us  that 
many  old  methods  employed  in  the  management  of 
lands — of  tillage  and  of  cultivation — are  poor  methods, 
indeed.  Good  farming  aims  to  hold  onto  the  best  of  the 
old  methods  and  to  adopt  every  good  idea  or  method  that 
is  provided  and  tried. 

Managing  stubble  lands. — Now,  in  the  summer  time  we 
find  the  greatest  difficulty,  and  especially  is  this  true  of 
the  water  supply.  \Yeeds,  grass,  and  growing  crops  are 
at  work  pumping  water  out  of  the  soil  The  winds  lick 
water  from  the  surface  as  fast  as  it  comes  to  the  top.  The 
air,  so  frequently  hot  and  thirsty,  pulls  into  its  kingdom 
every  bit  of  vapor  or  moisture  that  peeps  above  the  sur- 


i8o 


SOILS 


face  of  the  earth.     Between  them,  water  is  sent  rapidly 
and  constantly  into  the  atmosphere,  away  from  the  soil. 

If  your  lands  require  water  protection,  deny  it  not. 
Maybe  your  lands  are  in  stubble,  perhaps  in  wheat  or  in 
oats.  You  wait  for  weeks  or  months  before  you  plow  and 
prepare  the  seed-bed.  But  now  it  is  fashionable  (and 
good  practice)  to  treat  the  land  largely  from  the  stand- 
point of  moisture  control,  and  at  least  give  water  more 


DOUBLE-DISKING  THE   LAND 
This  sort  of   tillage  pays.      Water  is  both  admitted  to  the  soil  and  held 

consideration  than  its  previous  allotment.  The  old  plan 
gave  a  minimum  amount  of  rain  to  the  soil  and  took  a 
maximum  amount  of  water  out  of  the  soil.  The  new  plan 
supplies  a  maximum  quantity  of  rain  to  the  soil  and 
allows  a  minimum  quantity  only  to  find  its  escape. 

Have  you  ever  tried  disking  the  stubble  land,  tried  disk- 
ing just  after  harvest?  You  get  these  results:  water  is 
stored  and  held ;  and  when  you  plow  a  little  later,  you 
find  that  the  plow  works  differently  to  what  it  has  been 
doing  heretofore.  Now  it  is  more  to  your  liking :  it  pre- 
pares the  land;  it  leaves  it  mellow  and  fine  and  open;  it 
gives  the  land  the  ideal  tilth. 


DRY   FARMING 


181 


Disking  has  contributed  largely  to  this  happy  result. 
When  stubble  lands  are  to  pass  the  fall  and  winter  without 
use — no  crop  before  spring — disking  often  will  provide  all 
the  tillage  that  is  needed.  A  few  trials  will  tell  you.  In- 
deed, you  may  find  by  so  doing  that  you  may  add  many 
bushels  to  your  next  year's  crop.  If  drought  is  not  in- 
frequent in  your  vicinity,  water  storing  is  a  problem  with 
you,  and  it  is  good  business  to  plan  your  tillage  opera- 
tions in  such  manner  that  water  may  be  admitted  with 


"OUT  THERE   IN    KANSAS" 
Planting  corn  with  six-horse  Lister 

ease  and  held  without  difficulty  during  the  whole  time 
your  land  is  idle  or  at  rest. 

What  to  do  with  plowed  lands. — Suppose  you  have 
disked  your  land  or  have  fall-plowed  it — what  is  the  next 
step?  As  I  see  it,  the  next  step  is  just  like  unto  the  first: 
it  is  continued  preparation.  Just  this:  use  the  disk  as 
soon  as  weather  conditions  permit  in  the  spring.  You  are 
to  plow,  of  course, — at  least,  you  are  to  plow  your  stiff 
lands:  but  use  the  disk  (in  the  West  the  lister  may  be 


182 


SOILS 


wisely  used  for  this  purpose),  that  the  winter  crust  may 
be  broken  so  as  to  admit  freely  the  spring  rains.  Then  it 
will  pay.  It  adds  to  the  cost,  I  know,  but  you  put  the 
water — immense  stores  of  it — into  the  reservoir  below 
that  will  be  at  your  service  and  command  when  the  call 
of  the  summer  has  come. 

This  sort  of  intensive  culture  may  not  be  needed  if  rains 
are  abundant  when  the  growing  season  is  in  progress ; 
still,  too  little  water  enters.  Even  in  wet  seasons  crops 


SUB-SURFACE   PACKING 
This  tool  firms  the  soil,  breaks  the  clods  and  levels  the  surface 

suffer  for  water — at  least,  at  times,  and  a  goodly  supply 
on  hand  may  not  be  amiss.  And,  after  all,  water  sinks 
into  the  soil  rather  slowly,  at  best,  and  a  summer  rain 
may  never  get  down  where  the  roots  grow.  Summer 
rains,  by  starting  water  upwards  and  by  destroying  the 
mulch,  may  assist  even  in  drying  the  land. 

Sub-surface  packing:    a  dry-farming  tool. — You  may 


DRY  FARMING 


have  water  in  the  soil,  but  which  works  to  the  top  so 
slowly,  newly  planted  seeds  may  get  too  little  and  so  will 
not  sprout  and  develop.  If  you  are  so  situated  that  such 
is  the  case,  you  will  find  that  packing  the  land  will  assist 
in  correcting  the  difficulty.  Just  press  the  soil  grains  to- 
gether, and  the  capillary  flow  will  be  improved :  it  will 
work. 

A  new  tool — the  sub-surface  packer — has  come  into  use 
to  do  just  this  thing.  It  is  a  sort  of  roller — a  bevel  wheel 
roller — that  cuts  like  a  disk  and  compacts  like  a  roller. 
Its  manner  of  construction  secures  packing  of  the  soil  just 
beneath  the  surface  and 
not  at  the  top.  As  mois- 
ture is  drawn  to  the  sur- 
£ace,  it  stops  where  the 
seed  lay,  since  the  surface 
is  broken  by  the  packci 
and  is  left  as  a  mulch  ->m' 
hence  the  surface  loss  i.- 
minimized.  By  packing 
the  upper  layer  of  the  soil 
a  free  movement  of  the 
soil  moisture  is  allowed. 
This  moisture  is  concen- 
trated at  a  point  just  be- 
neath the  surface  and  at 
a  point  where  needed  by 
seed  and  new  spreading 
roots. 

The  firm   stratum   thus 
made  by  the  surface  pack- 
er brings   up   the   water,   but   serves   as   a   resistance   in 
its  movement  out  of  the  soil.     This  cultural  operation, 
combined  with  the  mulch  on  top,  offers  a  fairly  effective 


DRY-LAND    FARMING 

A  viflel  of  65  bushels  per  acre,  with  a 
rainfall  of  but  20  inches  annually 


184  SOILS 

trap  and  assists  in  preventing  water  loss.  Extreme  treat- 
ment like  this,  perhaps,  is  necessary  only  in  regions  where 
the  water  loss  is  large  and  the  rainfall  small.  While  the 
sub-surface  packer  is  peculiarly  a  semi-arid  tool,  it  doubt- 
less will,  in  time,  secure  favor  in  humid  lands,  also. 

Water-saving:  a  universal  problem. — If  it  were  possi- 
ble to  estimate  the  shortage  of  crops  due  to  lack  of  water 
in  arid  or  humid  regions,  the  figures  would  surprise  even 
the  most  faithful  of  the  creed  of  water-saving.  While  the 
problem  is  immense,  the  solution  is  easy.  I  doubt  if  at- 
tention can  be  applied  in  any  direction  that  will  bring  so 
great  and  so  lasting  returns  as  that  given  to  water-con- 
servation :  a  problem  that  includes  every  phase  of  soil 
management  from  the  time  water  is  taken  into  the  soil 
until  it  is  used  by  the  growing  crop. 

In  the  past,  we  have  given  attention  largely  to  the 
chemical  side  of  soils :  to  that  side  having  to  do  with 
plant  food.  But  recent  study  brings  us  to  a  realization 
that  water  is  important:  just  as  important  as  is  plant 
food.  Hence,  no  effort  in  soil  management  will  bring  so 
good  results  as  will  a  conscientious  effort  directed  along 
the  line  of  moisture  control. 


CHAPTER  XX 

TILLAGE  TOOLS:  WHAT  THEY  ARE  FOR;  HOW  TO 
USE   THEM 

One  of  the  most  expensive  things  a  man  can  do  is  to 
move  dirt. 

No  tool  has  ever  been  invented  that  moves  so  great 
quantities  of  soil  for  so  little  money  as  the  plow.  No 
farm  implement  is  more  in  use,  nor  is  any  more  essential, 
yet  Professor  Roberts  declares  that  in  America  plowing 
is  the  least  understood  and  the  most  imperfectly  per- 
formed operation  in  connection  with  our  preparation  of 
land  for  crops. 

We  know  how  to  plow,  but  how  few  of  us  really  know 
when  and  why  to  plow.  The  only  reasons  why  people 
used  to  plow  were  to  get  crops  in  and  to  kill  the  weeds. 
It  is  no  wonder  to  me  that  at  one  time  people  hated  to 
plow.  With  primitive  tools  it  was  hard  work  ;  and  it,  too, 
was  slow  work. 

The  first  plow  was  a  sharpened  stick. — The  first  plow 
was  the  sharpened  stick.  But  man  is  lazy  :  he  soon  aban- 
dons this  most  primitive  of  all  forms  of  tillage,  selects  a 
forked  stick,  ties  it  to  the  horns  of  a  bull,  and  makes  the 
animal  do  most  of  the  work. 

Thousands  of  plows  have  been  invented  since  this  early 
type,  but  there  is  no  change  in  the  principle.  The  motive 
power  has  changed  :  the  long  end  of  the  forked  stick  has 
been  succeeded  by  a  beam  of  finished  wood  or  steel ;  the 
short  end  has  been  metamorphosed  into  a  chilled  steel 
point  and  moldboard  ;  the  rough  hand  knot  has  been  sup- 
planted by  curving  handles  or  a  driver's  scat;  but  for  all 


1 86 


SOILS 


these  improvements,  there  has  been  no  radical  change  in 
the  tool. 

The  work  the  modern  plow  should  do. — Now,  what 
should  this  modern  plow,  evolved  from  the  crooked  stick, 
do  for  the  land?  How  shall  a  man  know  when  he  has  a 
good  plow,  how  shall  he  know  when  he  is  doing  capital 


IDEAL   PLOWING 

The  soil  is  pulverized  and  all  rubbish  is  buried.     Th"  right  sort  of  seed-bed 
can  be  made  now  with  ease 


work?  In  the  first  place,  the  effective  plow  turns  the 
land ;  the  furrow  slice  is  laid  entirely  over,  or  it  is  set  up 
well  on  edge.  In  either  case,  it  must  cover  manure,  trash, 
or  green  crops. 

In  the  second  place,  the  plow  should  go  deep  into  the 


FURROW   SLICES  THAT  ARE  TOO  FLAT 

While  all  herbage  is  covered,  the  soil  is  pulverized  poorly.     It  is  not  so  good  as 

it  looks 

ground.  This  for  two  reasons :  deep  plowing,  as  stated 
heretofore,  enables  the  soil  to  drink  in  and  to  hold  more 
water  against  the  time  of  drought.  Deep  plowing  gives 
plant  roots  a  wider  pasture. 


TILLAGE   TOOLS:     WHAT   THEY    ARE    FOR  187 

In  the  third  place,  the  effective  plow  must  pulverize  the 
furrow  slice  turned  out.  Turning  the  land  is  not  enough ; 
the  soil  must  be  broken,  fined,  and  mellowed.  We  get 
these  results  by  means  of  the  sharp,  bold  curve  that  is 
given  the  moldboard.  A  plow  that  does  not  thoroughly 
pulverize  the  soil  is  a  poor  plow.  It  may  make  a  hand- 
some furrow,  cover  the  ground  well,  plunge  far  into 
the  ground,  and  still  do  poor  plowing:  unless  it  leaves 
the  soil  in  so  friable  a  condition  that  the  other  tillage  tools 
can  easily  and  economically  do  their  part,  it  has  fallen 
short  of  its  duty. 

Aim  to  get  a  furrow  slice  that  is  set  well  on  edge,  with 
a  snap  as  it  comes  from  the  moldboard.  This  is  the  sort 
that  the  harrow  uses  best  for  completing  the  bed  for 
seeds. 

In  addition  to  plowing  in  order  to  get  a  pulverized, 
deep,  warm,  moisture-holding  plant  bed,  we  must  plow 
with  a  view  to  bettering  the  physical  condition  of  the 
land.  Hence,  we  should  aim  to  get  deep  and  uniform 
plowing  done  in  every  field. 

An  example  of  poor  plowing. — Recently.  I  stood  at  one 
place  in  a  ncwlv  plowed  field  and  counted  fifty-eight 
places  left  unplowed,  because  the  plowman  had  carelessly 
let  his  plow  jump  out  of  the  ground.  This  was  not  only 
poor  plowing,  but  it  showed  that  the  plow-holder  was 
ignorant  of  one  of  the  first  principles  of  tillage — namely, 
that  plowing  releases  plant  food  stored  in  the  soil.  The 
places  skipped  by  the  plow,  then,  even  if  the  seeds  germi- 
nated in  them,  would  have  less  plant  food  to  furnish  the 
crops  on  them,  than  the  plowed  portions  on  the  same  field 
have.  \Yhy?  Re-cause  the  roots  get  in  another  manner 
all  the  products  in  the  storehouse. 

The  subsoil  plow:  the  work  it  has  to  do. — In  this  work 
of  rendering  plant  food  available,  the  subsoil  plow  is  espe- 


1 88 


SOILS 


cially  valuable.  Its  power  to  go  deep  opens  new  pastures 
to  plant  roots.  The  closely  packed  soil,  untouched  by 
other  plows,  is  made  fertile  and  friable.  The  subsoil  plow 
brings  this  new  zone,  with  its  accumulated  reserve  of 
plant  nutrients,  within  reach  of  the  plants.  It  almost  adds 
a  new  farm  to  the  old  one. 

Subsoiling  is  an  expensive  process,  yet  in  no  other  way 
can  the  hard  floor  under  the  top  soil — a  floor  that  plant 


PLOWING    LEVEES    FOR   RICE 


roots  vainly  seek  to  penetrate ;  a  floor  that  turns  the  rain 
above  it,  and  imprisons  the  food  beneath  it — in  no  other 
way  can  this  floor  be  broken  through.  In  no  other  way 
can  the  sun,  air,  and  moisture  be  admitted  to  the  depths 
below,  where  they  are  needed  to  fit  the  soil  for  an  ideal 
plant  home.  In  no  other  way  can  undissolved  plant  food, 
held  fast  in  the  dark  compounds  below,  be  liberated. 


TILLAGE  TOOLS:     WHAT   THEY   ARE   FOR  189 

Of  course,  all  lands  do  not  need  to  be  subsoiled.  Your 
own  judgment  will  determine  this  for  you.  In  many 
cases,  plants  will  do  the  work,  provided  the  hard  pan  is 
neither  too  thick  nor  too  hard.  The  cow  pea,  the  soy 
bean,  and  the  clover  plant  are  all  good  subsoilers.  Have 
you  ever  tried  them?  Here  is  just  the  point:  you  better 
have  one  acre  properly  prepared  and  tilled,  than  several 
imperfectly  cultivated.  Your  returns  will  be  greater,  for 
all  the  first  expense  of  this  sort  of  tillage,  and  of  the  seed 
and  labor,  is  saved  by  getting  your  required  crop  from 
fewer  acres. 

Long,  long  ago  Poor  Richard  said,  "Plow  deep,  while 
the  sluggards  sleep*' ;  and,  although  Richard  would  have 
been  sadly  puzzled  to  give  the  reason  for  this  aphorism, 
he  was  right  both  from  an  economical  and  a  cultural  point 
of  view.  You  will  agree  with  me  that  proper  plowing  is 
essential  to  prosperous  farming.  The  farmer  gives  less 
thought  to  the  kind  of  plow  that  he  shall  use,  than  the 
carriage  in  which  he  rides.  It  is  a  sad  thing  to  see,  but 
he  does  just  that  thing. 

The  one-horse  plow:  a  tool  of  the  past. — In  many  parts 
of  the  country  we  find  one-horse  plows  in  extensive  use, 
yet  none  of  the  aims  of  tillage  are  attained  by  the  shallow- 
running,  one-horse  plow.  Nor  can  this  tool  be  defended 
on  the  ground  of  economy.  The  two-horse  walking  plow 
not  only  does  farm  work  better,  but  it  does  as  much  work 
as  two  one-horse  plows,  and  saves  the  labor  of  one  man. 

The  two-horse  or  the  four-horse  walking  plow  ought 
soon  find  a  place  on  even  the  smallest  farm.  The  sooner 
you  send  the  one-horse  plow  to  the  museum,  along  with 
the  crooked  plows  and  the  hand-spinning  frames,  the  bet- 
ter it  will  be  for  your  farm  :  the  better  it  will  be  for  you. 

Some  other  kinds  of  plows. — The  sulky  plow  is  coming 
into  favor,  although  somewhat  gradually.  On  level  land 


TILLAGE   TOOLS:     WHAT   THEY   ARE   FOR  IQI 

there  is  little  difference  in  draft  between  the  walking  plow 
and  the  sulky  plow.  The  draft  of  the  sulky  is  slightly 
increased  in  going  up  hill ;  hence,  the  wheel  plow  is  at  a 
disadvantage,  somewhat,  on  hilly  land,  but  on  level  land 
it  is  to  be  preferred  because  it  pulls  no  harder  and  does 
its  work  with  care,  certainty,  and  accuracy. 

The  disk  plow  is  fast  coming  into  favor.  It  pulverizes 
well,  and  covers  trash  in  an  effective  manner.  It,  how- 
ever, cannot  be  used,  practically,  in  stony  land.  This 
kind  of  plow  is  well  adapted  to  hard,  gummy  soils,  in 
which  it  is  difficult  to  keep  the  required  depth  with  the 
moldboard  plow,  and  it  is  preferable  to  the  latter  in 
breaking  hard-pan  and  hard-baked  topsoils.  This  tool  is 
generally  satisfactory  where  deep  plowing  is  to  be  done, 
always  leaving  the  soil  in  a  loose,  broken  condition.  This 
plow  is  now  made  for  horses  and  for  steam. 

The  gang  plow  is  intended  for  large  areas.  It  requires 
the  employment  of  several  horses  or  of  an  engine,  but  a 
single  man  can  operate  it,  and  perhaps  do  better  work 
than  he  could,  if  guiding  a  single  plow  by  hand.  This 
sort  of  plow  finds  its  place  on  extensive  farms  that  are 
level  and  free  from  rock,  ledges,  and  ditches.  It  is  used 
largely  in  the  West,  but  there  is  no  reason,  however,  why 
small  steam  plows  should  not  be  used  to  good  advantage 
in  every  section  of  the  country.  Generally  speaking, 
steam-plowed  land  is  plowed  no  deeper  than  that  done  by 
horse  power,  but  steam  does  the  work  more  economically. 

Every  plow  that  has  been  made,  and  has  stood  the  test 
of  time,  is  built  on  the  principle  of  a  double  wedge — one 
force  of  the  wedge  acting  in  a  vertical,  the  other  in  a 
horizontal  plane.  The  plows  of  the  future  will  doubtless 
be  built  on  a  similar  plan,  but  the  constant  aim  will  be 
to  make  them  penetrate  to  a  greater  depth,  and  pulverize 
the  soil  more  fully.  The  nearer  the  plow  achieves  this 


192 


SOILS 


end,  the  greater  will  be  the  soil  reservoir  for  holding 
water  and  soluble  plant  food. 

The  tools  of  preparation :  their  work. — The  harrow  fol- 
lows the  plow.  You  need  this  tool  in  connection  with  the 
roller,  to  complete  the  pulverization  of  the  soil,  begun  by 


> 

"  -  '»  '   .  " 
>.* 


. 


'"-'"^•'Si 


WHERE   ROLLING   DOES   LITTLE  GOOD 

The  clods  are  too  hard— and  so  the  work  is  not  done  effectively.    Clay  lands 
must  be  worked  at  just  the  right  time  to  get  the  desired  results 


the  plow.  Both  of  these  tools  mellow  the  soil  and  push 
the  particles  nearer  to  one  another.  You  have  observed 
that  the  cloddy  spots  found  in  a  fertile  field  make  a  poor 
harvest.  In  these  places  the  bad  condition  of  the  soil 
excludes  moisture  and  pens  in  plant  food,  hence  this  lack 
of  fruitfulness. 

The  harrow  and  roller  will  correct  this  trouble.     You 
cannot  be  too  painstaking,  when  it  comes  to  harrowing. 


TILLAGE    TOOLS:     WHAT    THEY    ARE    FOR  IQ3 

A  field  may  look  well  after  a  harrow  has  gone  over  it, 
but  this  does  not  necessarily  mean  that  the  work  has  been 
done  well.  For  this  reason,  you  should  always  examine 
carefully  to  see  whether  the  soil  has  been  uniformly  pul- 
verized, and  the  particles  pressed  in  close  contiguity. 

While  few  men  catch  the  spirit  of  plowing,  a  still  less 
number  catch  the  spirit  of  harrowing.  The  harrow  is  the 
tool  to  complete  disintegration  and  pulverization.  It 
should  go  three,  four,  or  even  five  inches  into  the  soil. 
The  harrow  teeth  should  go  down  well  below  the  surface, 
and  work  among  clods  and  lumps ;  they  should  either 
break  all  clods  and  lumps,  or  bring  them  to  the  surface 
where  they  can  be  ground  and  crumbled  by  subsequent 
tillage. 

A  field  is  never  well  harrowed  until  the  interstices  be- 
tween the  coarser  particles  are  filled  with  a  sifting  in  of 
the  finer  particles.  When  this  has  been  accomplished,  the 
seeds  have  a  perfect  chance  to  sprout  and  grow ;  the  soil 
is  well  fitted  to  take  care  of  its  water  supply. 

One  kind  of  harrow  is  not  enough  :  it  will  not  do  for 
all  seasons,  nor  for  all  soils.  Here  are  the  things  the 
harrow  must  do:  it  must  smooth,  cut.  level,  spade,  pul- 
verize, and  compact.  Xo  harrow  can  do  all  these,  hence, 
you  will  need  different  kinds  to  do  all  the  work  involved 
in  harrowing  well  and  effectively. 

The  fine-tooth,  smoothing  harrow  should  have  a  place 
on  every  farm.  It  levels  and  disintegrates,  and  it  comes 
in  handily  for  intertillage :  it  does  splendidly  on  corn  and 
cotton  land  after  planting  is  done. 

The  spring-tooth  harrow  should  be  had,  as  it  comes  in 
nicely  where  you  have  leveling  and  smoothing  to  do,  or 
where  a  heavy  rain  has  compacted  the  soil  too  hard  for 
seeding  purposes. 

In  addition  to  these,  you  should  have  a  disk  or  cut-away 


194 


SOILS 


harrow.  You  will  find  it  very  valuable — in  fact,  indis- 
pensable— for  many  kinds  of  farm  work.  Such  a  harrow 
takes  the  place  of  the  plow  in  seeding  wheat  or  rye,  after 
corn  or  cotton  or  cow  peas  or  potatoes.  The  rolling  disk 
cuts  and  turns  and  pulverizes,  and  thus  does  the  work  of 
a  plow,  although  it  does  not  go  so  deeply.  But  since  you 
want  a  compact  soil,  excepting  the  top,  this  becomes  the 
very  implement  for  your  work.  Fields  that  have  just 


THE  ACME   HARROW 

A  splendid  mulch  maker,  weed  killer  and  all  'round  cultivator.     Note  the 
cracked  and  crusted  soil  at  right,  and  after-treatment  at  left 


been  disked  and  then  crossed  with  a  spring-tooth  harrow 
are  usually  left  smooth  and  mellow,  and  in  a  fine  condi- 
tion for  the  seeding  tools. 

The  disk  harrow  is  an  excellent  tool  to  use  immediately 
after  the  harvest  as  a  means  of  opening  the  soils  to  catch 
summer  rains,  and  of  conserving  the  moisture  already 
present  in  the  soil.  In  our  dryer  sections,  especially  in 
semi-arid  regions,  this  plan  of  soil  treatment  is  coming 


TILLAGE    TOOLS:     WHAT    THEY    ARE    FOR 


195 


into  practice,  and  is  to  be  commended.  If  you  find  clods 
on  top,  the  wooden  drag  or  roller  will  be  the  next  imple- 
ment to  use.  The  wooden  drag  grinds  the  clods  and 
lumps ;  and  is  also  a  good  implement  for  leveling  pur- 
poses. The  roller  is  primarily  a  crushing  and  compacting 


•-' 

I '     •^7:-- 

«     >*V^ 
»**  '.*•<•    5« 


r;  .    '.  • 


A   STEP   IX   SOIL   PREPARATION 

The  effect  of  the  sprinjr-tooth  harrow,  after  the  roller,  is  shown  in  the  picture. 
This  tool  is  splendid  for  loosening  hard  soils,  for  leveling  and  lor  Stirling 

tool.     While  it  is  effective  as  a  crusher,  it  drives  the  dry, 
hard  clods  into  the  surface  soil. 

You  will  find  the  roller  most  desirable  during  dry  sea- 
sons for  compacting  the  soil  so  that  capillarity  may  be 
restored,  and  moisture  from  the  great  reservoir  down  in 
the  soil  be  drawn  up  to  the  seeds  and  roots.  This,  how- 
ever, may  prove  harmful,  for  you  may  induce  a  too  rapid 
evaporation,  and  thus  destroy  your  reserve  supply.  You 


196  SOILS 

can  minimize  this  harmful  effect  by  using  a  smoothing 
harrow,  a  few  days  after  the  roller.  Fortunate  is  the 
farmer  who  becomes  a  believer  in  the  practice  of  making 
the  soil  firm  for  all  seeds  and  plants. 

Compacting  the  soil  increases  water  content. — The 
market  gardener  has  lead  the  way  here.  Just  note  how  he 
uses  his  feet  to  accomplish  this  very  purpose :  he  knows 
that  it  pays — in  fact,  that  it  is  clearly  necessary  to  make 
firm  soil  about  the  newly  planted  plants  or  seeds.  This  is 
important  in  dry,  hot  weather  in  loose,  poor  soils.  The 
farm  roller  and  gardener's  feet  both  accomplish  the  same 
work.  Both  compact  the  soil ;  start  the  water  in  the  soil 
below  on  an  upward  course  that  brings  it  to  the  seeds  and 
roots  that  need  it. 

When  this  has  been  accomplished,  a  smoothing  harrow, 
with  its  little  teeth,  should  be  run  over  the  land  so  as  to 
break  off  the  tops  of  the  capillary  tubes ;  and  thus  make 
a  mulch  of  the  top  soil,  and  check  the  evaporation  of  the 
soil  water. 

The  cultivating  tools  involved  in  the  tillage  of  the  soil 
answer  three  purposes :  they  kill  weeds ;  they  provide  a 
much-needed  mulch,  especially  in  dry  climates,  so  as  to 
preserve  moisture ;  and  they  release  plant  food.  The  old 
one-shovel  plow  is  fast  giving  way  to  the  shallow  culti- 
vator with  several  shovels.  We  no  longer  expect  to  use 
intercultural  tools  for  preparing  the  soil  for  root  develop- 
ment :  we  do  that  now  at  seeding  time. 


CHAPTER  XXI 


THE  CULTIVATION  OF  CROPS:  THE  TOOLS  AND  THE 
PURPOSES 

The  cultivating-  tools  involved  in  the  interculture  of 
crops  serve  three  purposes:  they  release  plant  food ;  they 
kill  weeds ;  and  they  pro- 
vide a  mulch  so  as  to  pre- 
vent the  loss  of  soil  water. 
The  modern  idea  is  to  cul- 
tivate the  soil  in  a  man- 
ner that  a  shallow  and 
mellow  mulch  will  be 
made,  the  work  being 
especially  designed  for 
the  purpose  of  water-sav- 
ing. Hence,  the  old  shovel 
plow  that  went  deep  into 
the  soil  has  been  replaced 
almost  entirely  by  mod- 
ern tools  that  never  reach 
the  lower  depths  of  the 
soil  nor  touch  the  roots 
of  the  plant.  The  one- 
horse  plow,  now  used  so 
much  in  the  cotton  and 
corn  fields  of  the  South,  is 
likewise  losing  its  popu- 
larity and  is  being  suc- 

,       ,     ,  CORN    ROOTS 

cecdcd   by  more  shallow-         They  occupy  the  entire  spacc  bc- 

/•iiltii'ififur   t™Jc  >irJ«1i    ernr  tween   the   rows  to   within  a  few 

Cultivating   tOOIS  With    SCV-  inches   of   the    surface.       Do    you 

rril     shovok        Tt    i^;    nonr  wonder  why  deep  cultivation  in- 

lUVCIa.  jures  the  crop? 


198 


SOILS 


business  to  use  interculture  tools  to  prepare  the  soil  for 
root  development — that  injures  the  crop ;  and  such  work 
should  be  done  before  seeding  time. 

Interculture  tools:  the  weeder  and  many-shovel  culti- 
vators.— The  weeder  ranks  first  in  popularity  as  a  tool  for 
beginning"  the  work  of  cultivation.  It  runs  shallow;  its 
many  teeth  destroy  the  tiny  weeds  just  peeping  through 


CULTIVATING  THE  ORCHARD 
Orchards  respond  often  to  cultivation  as  generously  as  corn  fields 

the  ground ;  its  complete  soil-stirring  makes  a  fairly  ef- 
fective mulch.  The  weeder  can  be  used  two  or  three 
times  in  cultivating  most  crops,  especially  if  soil  is  loose 
and  if  it  is  to  be  followed  by  some  other  kind  of  cultivator. 
If  you  do  not  have  the  weeder,  you  can  use  the 
smoothing  harrow  to  almost  equal  advantage  when  the 
plants  are  short  and  small.  After  the  crop  is  somewhat 


THE    CULTIVATION    OF   CROPS  199 

grown,  the  weeder  is  impracticable  for  further  use ;  and 
the  many-shovel  cultivator  takes  its  place. 

All  sorts  of  cultivators  are  available :  they  are  of  many 
makes  and  of  many  kinds.  Perhaps  the  most  numerous 
sorts  are  the  two-horse  cultivators — walking  and  riding — 
that  permit  one  man  to  do  the  work  of  two  men  with 
single  cultivators,  doing  the  work  just  as  well  and  with 
less  fatigue.  Double  cultivators  are  made  with  shovels, 
disks,  and  spring  teeth.  Shovels  and  spring  teeth  are 
most  in  use,  although  for  some  kinds  of  work  the  disks 
are  to  be  preferred.  The  latter  are  especially  good  to  cut 
and  cover  hi  weedy  land.  Their  fault  lies  in  the  ridges 
they  make.  It  is  level  culture  that  you  want,  and  this  is 
difficult  to  get  with  a  disk  cultivator  unless  conditions  are 
ideal.  In  wet  lands,  cultivation  is  resorted  to  as  a  drain- 
age operation ;  in  this  case,  the  disk  cultivator  is  the  best 
tool  you  can  use. 

Cultivation  rids  the  land  of  weeds. — Lands  must  be 
kept  free  from  weeds,  else  the  best  results  will  never  be 
possible.  This  is  shown  by  a  test  at  the  New  Hampshire 
Experiment  Station.  The  plan  of  the  experiment  and 
yields  are  shown  in  the  table : 


Plot 

Treatment  Given 

Bushels  of 
shelled  corn 

No  culture  —  weeds  allowed  to  grow  

Mulch  —  4  inches  ol  1  hay  

56 

Shallow  culti  vatic  n  —  5  times  

80 

Shallow  cultivation—  16  times    

82 

Deep  cultivation  —  5  times  

Much  of  the  story  of  cultivation  is  told  in  these  results. 
The  need  of  culture  is  recognized  at  a  glance.     When 


THE    CULTIVATION    OF    CROPS  2OI 

weeds  are  allowed  to  grow,  they  poison  the  land,  steal 
plant  food,  rob  the  soil  of  its  water,  and  shade  the  earth. 
It  may  cost  something  in  labor  and  effort  to  keep  weeds 
away,  but  it  costs  a  great  deal  more  to  let  them  grow. 

We  find  several  other  interesting  facts  in  these  results. 
The  four  inches  of  hay,  used  as  a  mulch,  did  not  secure 
the  best  yield.  An  abundance  of  water  was  held  in  the 
soil ;  but  the  soil  was  cold — too  cold — and  the  crop  was 
cut  short. 

The  dry  earth  mulch  is  better.  It  is  better  than  a  vege- 
table mulch,  when  either  deep  or  shallow  culture  is  given. 
It  is  a  great  deal  less  expensive,  also.  And  it  is  effective ; 
it  keeps  the  water  in  the  soil. 

You  will  note  but  a  slight  difference  between  the  two 
plots  that  were  given  frequent  and  infrequent  shallow 
culture.  What  is  the  significance?  Just  this:  there  was 
no  need  for  the  excessive  culture.  The  five  cultivations 
did  all  that  was  needed :  the  mulch  was  made  and  main- 
tained and  the  weeds  were  destroyed.  All  that  was 
needed  was  on  hand  and  the  work  was  done.  Hence,  a 
moderate  amount  of  cultivation,  if  it  be  done  well,  if  it 
keeps  weeds  out  and  water  in,  is  to  be  preferred  to  very 
frequent  cultivation ;  not  because  it  is  less  effective,  but 
because  it  is  a  less  expensive  practise. 

When  the  shallow  and  deep  cultivated  plots  are  com- 
pared, a  slight  difference  is  noticed — a  difference  of  eight 
bushels  per  acre  in  favor  of  shallow  cultivation.  In  this 
case,  some  of  the  roots  of  the  deep-cultivated  plot  were 
disturbed  and  injured — we  noticed  that — and  the  yield 
was  cut  short.  Had  this  not  been  the  case,  the  yield 
might  have  been  just  as  g(xxl ;  it  might  have  been 
better. 

The  depth  to  cultivate  growing  crops. — This  gives  rise 
to  the  question  :  How  deep  shall  we  cultivate?  That  ques- 


2O2 


SOILS 


tion  has  been  answered  with  quite  a  good  deal  of  cer- 
tainty. At  least  a  half  hundred  carefully  planned  and 
executed  experiments  have,  by  their  results,  answered  in 

favor  of  shallow  cultiva- 
tion. Since  then  we  have 
heard  much  about  this 
new  idea  in  cultivating 
the  soil.  But  we  are  in 
danger  of  going  to  the 
other  extreme.  Our 
fathers  "plowed"  corn ; 
they  cultivated  too  deep. 
Some  of  us,  perhaps,  cul- 
tivate too  shallow;  we 
get  in  trouble  with  weeds  ; 
and  because  of  our  thin 
mulch,  let  the  water  get 
away  from  the  soil. 

In  sections  where  there 
is  much  rain,  the  shal- 
low extreme  may  do;  but 
where  moisture  is  de- 
manded— in  the  North, 
where  the  ground  is  fro- 
zen for  so  manv  months ; 
in  the  semi-arid  regions, 
where  the  supply  is  gen- 
erally limited — a  deeper 
mulch  and  a  more  effec- 
tive mulch  is  to  be  prefer- 
red. Four  inches,  per- 

CATALPA   TREE   WITH   ONE  haps,  is  too  much  and  one 

SEASON'S  GROWTH  jnch  js  too  ijttie>     A  bet- 

But  it  was  cultivated  just  like  corn,  ,    J..--4.1,    :„    r..^ 

and  profited  by  the  culture  it  got  tCF    depth    IS    Irom    tWO    to 


THE   CULTIVATION   OF   CROPS  203 

three  inches  ;  better  for  weed  destruction  and  good  enough 
for  mulch  making. 

A  most  important  point:  level  culture'. — You  will  find 
farmers  who  still  ridge  their  crops :  they  "hill"  the  crop 
that  it  may  not  be  blown  over  by  winds,  nor  pulled  down 
by  storms  and  rain.  But  have  you  ever  noticed  that 
near-by  crops,  although  given  level  culture,  are  no  more 
troubled  by  storms  and  wind  than  the  hilled  and  ridged 
crops?  Often  not  so  much,  is  the  true  situation. 

Hilling  and  ridging  the  crop  is  advisable  for  just  one 
reason  :  to  drain  the  land.  With  proper  drainage  and  seed- 
bed preparation,  there  is  no  occasion  for  either  of  these 
expensive  practices. 

Level  culture,  since  it  exposes  a  smaller  area  to  sun 
and  wind  than  ridge  culture,  actually  protects,  with 
greater  efficiency,  the  water  stores  in  the  soil.  Bedding 
the  land  is  often  advisable  with  some  soils  (although  it 
increases  the  cost  of  planting),  for  the  reason  it  secures 
a  small  amount  of  drainage  and  a  greater  warmth  to  the 
soil. 

When  to  cultivate. — You  must  be  in  sympathy  with 
the  spirit  of  cultivation  if  you  would  get  the  best  results. 
You  must  do  it  at  the  time  when  the  soil  is  in  the  best  con- 
dition to  profit  by  the  work.  Just  after  a  rain,  the  word 
goes  out.  But  use  your  judgment  here,  else  you  may 
cultivate  too  early  after  the  rain  and  "puddle"  your  land. 
When  the  next  rain  comes,  the  crust  caused  by  the  culti- 
vation may  be  so  hard  and  stiff  the  rain  may  slip  away 
before  it  can  secure  entrance  through  the  stubborn  top. 

Here  is  the  better  plan:  just  wait  until  the  soil  is 
slightly  dried  ;  enough  so  that  when  it  is  stirred  it  will  not 
settle  and  connect  with  the  capillary  tubes  below — thus 
defeating  the  very  object  you  set  about  to  secure.  In 
times  when  you  are  depending  upon  cultivation  for  water 


204 


SOILS 


preservation  it  will  be  worth  your  while  to  watch  the 
mulch,  to  see  if  it  is  still  an  effective  blanket  or  if  the 
connection  with'  the  capillary  tubes  below  is  beginning 
to  take  place.  If  the  latter  be  so,  it  is  high  time  that 
you  repeat  the  cultivating  work. 

Water-saving  means  early  work. — Water-saving  falls 
into  two  means — the  catching  and  holding  of  it.     You 


LOSING    WATER   FROM    THE    SOIL 

The  soil  is  cracked  to  some  depth  below.    Soil  moisture  is  fast  leaving  the 
ground,  and  the  soil  is  in  bad  physical  condition 

first  must  get  water  into  the  soil,  and  then  you  can  use 
it ;  provided,  of  course,  you  do  not  let  it  escape  before  it 
is  needed.  Too  many  tillers  of  the  soil  fail  to  understand 
that  the  most  important  principle  at  stake  in  water-saving 
is  to  till  and  cultivate  in  such  a  manner  that  there  is  free 
access  of  water  into  the  soil.  Then  it  can  be  preserved 


THE    CULTIVATION    OF    CROPS  2O5 

by  cultivation  and  mulches  throughout  the  season.  But 
failures  in  supplying  water,  although  effective  culture — 
mulch  making — is  given  during  the  growing  season,  are 
certain  to  happen  if  no  water  is  in  the  soil  to  be  conserved. 
If  you  would  have  water  for  plants  for  the  time  when 
they  shall  need  it,  if  you  would  have  soil  water  for  them 
for  later  use,  make  no  mistake  about  first  getting  it  in 
the  soil,  and  the  rest  of  the  work  will  be  easy. 
Just  bear  in  mind  these  suggestions : 

1.  Getting  ready  for  crops — opening  soils  and  catching 
water — is  of  more  importance  than  after  cultivation. 

2.  Get  water  deep  into  the  soil  and  you  will  have  bigger 
stores  of  supply. 

3.  Cultivate  after  every  rain,  not  when  the  soil  is  real 
wet,  but  before  it  becomes  very  dry. 

4.  Make  your  mulch  deep  enough — three  inches  is  none 
too  deep  in  dry  regions. 

5.  Open  the  soil  early  in  the  spring  with  a  disk  if  you 
have  not  fall-plowed  or  winter-tilled. 

6.  Stir  unused  summer  lands  frequently  so  as  to  let 
water  in  and  to  keep  it  in  for  the  next  crop. 

7.  Lands  frozen  up  for  long  periods — like  in  the  New 
England    territory — are    as    needful    of    water-saving    as 
those  of  the  semi-arid  or  dry  farming  districts. 


CHAPTER  XXII 

STABLE  MANURE:  ITS  COMPOSITION  AND   ITS 
PRESERVATION 

The  potential  plant  food  contained  in  a  ton  of  manure 
is  dependent  upon  five  factors :  the  amount  of  water  in 
the  manure;  the  sort  of  feed  that  has  been  given  the 
animals ;  the  kind  and  quantity  of  bedding  that  has  been 
used ;  the  care  and  preservation  that  has  been  given ;  and 
the  class  of  live  stock. 

All  manure  contains  water. — Manure  contains  a  great 
deal  of  water.  If  used  by  weight,  it  is  readily  seen  how 
much  less  valuable  a  lot  of  manure  containing  much  water 
is,  when  compared  with  another  lot  containing  a  less  per- 
centage. Suppose  one  lot  contains  eighty  per  cent,  of 
water  and  another  lot  sixty  per  cent. 

In  the  first  instance  there  is  twenty  per  cent,  of  dry  mat- 
ter, while  in  the  second  instance  there  is  as  much  as  forty 
per  cent,  or  twice  as  much  dry  matter,  and,  consequently, 
twrice  as  much  plant  food.  In  the  first  instance,  if  eighty 
per  cent,  is  water,  you  have  but  four  hundred  pounds  of 
dry  matter  in  every  ton  of  manure. 

In  the  second  instance,  sixty  per  cent,  being  water,  you 
have  eight  hundred  pounds  of  manure — just  double  the 
quantity.  Four  tons  per  acre  of  the  latter  kind  applied  to 
the  soil  is  as  valuable,  from  the  standpoint  of  potential 
plant  food,  as  eight  tons  of  that  kind  containing  eighty 
per  cent,  of  water. 

The  nature  of  the  feed. — Animals  fed  on  corn  stover, 
timothy  hay,  cotton-seed  hulls,  and  corn  produce 
manure  of  inferior  quality  compared  with  that  pro- 


STABLE    MANURE 


207 


3*    V 


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l-  •  •      *  V  

I 

';  '              . 

. 

; 

Is 

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-,...,.- 

LJ 


208 


SOILS 


duced  by  animals  when  fed  on  alfalfa,  clover,  cotton-seed 
meal,  wheat  bran,  and  linseed  meal.  Manure  secured  from 
such  feeding  is  very  rich  in  fertilizing  components,  and  is 
worth  much  more  to  the  soil  than  the  manure  made  when 
non-nitrogenous  feeds  are  supplied. 

How  few  users  of  stable  manure,  even  in  sections  where 
large  quantities  are  produced,  appreciate  this  point!  You 
ought  to  be  interested  just  as  much  in  the  kinds  of  feed 
that  have  been  used  as  you  are  in  the  price  you  pay  for 
the  manure,  or  in  the  cost  necessary  for  getting  manure 
onto  the  land.  The  table  following  shows  the  difference 
in  fertilizing  materials  in  a  few  common  feeding  stuffs : 


Feeding  Stuff 

Fertilizing  Elements  in  One  Ton 

Money  Value 
of  Fertilizing 
Elements 

Nitrogen 

Phosphorus 

Potassium 

IO.O 

18.4 
39-6 
33-o 
49.2 
'35-6 

1.8 
6.6 
7.2 
ii.  8 
57-8 

56    2 

14.4 
28.4 
42.0 
7-4 
32.2 
29.2 

$2.31 
4-57 
8-53 
6.03 
12.58 
25  16 

Timothy  hay        

Red  clover  hay  

Corn  

Wheat  bran  

Cotton-seed  meal  

NOTE.— Values  have  been  recorded  as  follows:  Nitrogen,  15  cents;  phos- 
phorus, 6  cents  ;  potassium,  5  cents. 

Bedding  has  a  part. — That  bedding  has  a  part  in  influ- 
encing the  value  is  generally  recognized.  Straw  bedding 
is  worth  a  great  deal  more  to  the  land  than  shavings  or 
sawdust.  If  a  great  deal  of  poor  bedding  is  used  in  pro- 
portion to  the  food  consumed,  the  resultant  manure  is  not 
so  good.  If  rich  grain  food  is  fed  the  stock  and  little 
bedding  used,  the  manure,  if  properly  preserved,  will  be 
extremely  valuable.  Just  bear  in  mind  this  about  bed- 


STABLE    MANURE 


2CK) 


ding:  it  is  intended  to  furnish  clean  quarters  for  animals, 
to  absorb  and  retain  liquid  excrement,  to  check  and  con- 
trol fermentation  and  nitrogen  loss.  Hence,  it  dilutes 
manure  rather  than  improves  its  chemical  composition. 

Care  in  keeping  manure. — The  average  farmer  is  quite 
wasteful  with  his  stable  manure:  he  certainly  does  not 
take  good  care  of  it.    There  is  not  a  single  section  of  the 
country  that  does  not  pre- 
sent examples  which  show 
manure  as  being  wasted  in 
exposed      barnyards,      or 
piled   under   eaves,   or   as 
being  washed   away,   and 
so   poorly   preserved   that 
the  greater  part  of  the  ni- 
trogen therein  held  is  re- 
leased    by      fermentation 
and  sent  out  into  the  air. 

The  kind  of  live  stock 
influences  value.  —  Inas- 
much as  different  feeding 
rations  are  fed  our  many 
classes  of  animals,  it  fol- 
lows that  the  value  of  the  manure  bears  a  direct  relation 
to  this  fact.  Hence,  growing  animals,  dairy  cows, 
and  other  animals  receiving  feeding  stuffs  relatively  high 
in  nitrogenous  foods  produce  fertilizing  products  of  richer 
fertilizing  values  than  fattening  animals  or  other  classes 
fed  more  carbonaceous  feeding  materials. 

Full-grown  animals,  neither  gaining  nor  losing  weight, 
excrete  practically  all  of  the  fertilizing  constituents  of  the 
food,  while  milch  cows  excrete  on  an  average  <>f  seventy 
per  cent.,  and  fattening  cattle  and  work  horses  about 
ninety  per  cent. 


LOSI.VG    FERTILITY 

Thousands  of  cattle  are  ted  annually 
in  yards,  where  the  valuable  parts 
of  the  manure  waste  into  streams 
—  forever  lost  to  the  soil 


2IO 


SOILS 


The  table  following  shows  the  composition  of  average 
farm  manures : 


Fresh  Manure  Substance 

Pounds  per  Ton 

Nitrogen 

Phosphorus 

Potassium 

Cow  manure    .            

6.80 
11.60 
17.60 

9.OO 
32.6o 

lo.oo 

3.20 
5.60 
4.60 
3-80 
31.80 
5.20 

8.00 
10.60 
13-4° 

12.00 
ly.OO 
12.  60 

Horse  manure  

Sheep  manure  

Hog  manure  

Hen  manure  

Mixed  stable  manure  

Solid  and  liquid  manure. — In  the  liquid  portions  of  the 
manure  the  digested  nitrogen  is  found,  as  is  also  the 
larger  part  of  the  potassium.  This  explains  why  the  loss 
is  so  great,  from  a  money  standpoint,  when  liquid  manure 
is  not  preserved  properly  by  absorbents,  or  otherwise  held 
so  as  to  prevent  its  loss  from  being  washed  away.  Yet 
in  just  this  way  the  greater  value  of  stable  manure  is 
never  secured  to  the  farm.  On  the  average  farm  little 
consideration  is  given  this  liquid  portion.  And  then  to 
think :  it  is  the  most  valuable  product  made  on  the  farm. 
And  you  let  it  get  away ! 

In  the  undigested  portions  of  manure  some  nitrogen  is 
present  also.  A  large  part  of  the  phosphorus  is  contained 
in  the  solid  parts.  Since  nitrogen  and  potassium  are  con- 
tained in  liquid  manures,  and,  at  the  same  lime,  are  very 
soluble  in  water,  the  active  influence  of  this  sort  of 
manure  in  forcing  vegetation  is  recognized  at  once.  You 
can  do  no  wiser  thing  than  to  begin  at  once  in  the  saving 
of  all  liquid  manures — clearly  the  most  valuable  home- 
produced  manure. 


STABLE    MANURE 


211 


Preserving  stable  manures. — If  you  would  protect  your 
farm-made  manures,  you  must  abolish  that  old  barnyard 
built  on  a  hill,  the  drainage  of  which  finds  its  way  to  the 
creek,  where  shortly  it  is  picked  up  by  the  waters  and 
carried  away.  Maybe  your  barnyard  is  not  this  sort,  but 
a  number  of  your  neighbors  have  this  kind.  And  here  is 
the  point :  no  one  can  afford  such  expensive  barnyards ; 
too  much  valuable  capital — real  soil  fertility — is  lost  each 


A   COVERED  BARNYARD 
Cattle  are  protected  and  the  manure  is  preserved 

year.  You  can  do  one  of  two  tilings :  build  a  covered 
barnyard,  where  manure  and  stock  are  covered  and  pro- 
tected, or  you  can  remake  the  old  barnyard  by  banking 
up  the  lower  side  and  by  scooping  a  hollow  out  of  the 
middle.  Now,  in  neither  case  can  the  manure  be  washed 
away. 

If  the  bottom  of  this  newly  made  yard  is  of  clay,  there 
will  be  little  or  no  leaching,  and  hence  practically  no  loss. 
On  the  other  hand,  if  the  bottom  and  sides  are  of  a  sand 
nature,  spongy  in  character  rather  than  impervious,  it  will 
be  necessary  to  do  more  work  before  a  good  job  is 


212  SOILS 

secured.  Some  advise  cement  for  the  bottom  and  sides 
for  this  purpose — a  most  satisfactory  way  out  of  the  diffi- 
culty and  one  that  will  last. 

But  the  covered  barnyard  is  better.  And  it  is  better  for 
the  manure  and  for  the  stock.  The  open  barnyard, 
although  it  may  protect  against  washing  and  leaching, 
still  may  allow  fermentation  to  go  on  as  before,  which 
means  organic  matter  is  destroyed  and  nitrogen  is  lost. 
This  objection  is  removed  almost  entirely  when  manure  is 
hauled  direct  to  the  fields  or  made  and  preserved  under 
the  covered  barnyard. 

The  most  practical  scheme  for  a  cheaply  constructed 
building  that  serves  as  storage  for  hay,  shelter  for  stock, 
covered  barnyard  for  manures,  and  at  the  same  time  pro- 
vides stable  accommodations,  with  which  I  am  familiar,  is 
the  Erf  system. 

The  Erf  system  of  stabling  and  preserving  manure. — 
The  general  plan  is  as  follows :  In  this  system  location  is 
a  very  important  factor.  The  building  should  be  built  on 
high  ground,  but  if  such  is  not  available,  the  soil  should 
be  tile  drained  to  avoid  dampness  in  the  barnyard.  In 
arranging  the  system,  a  large  area  is  covered  with  cheap 
roofing,  in  the  center  of  which  is  a  hay  shed ;  on  one 
side  of  this  is  a  milking  stable  connected  with  a  feed 
room  for  concentrated  feeds,  and  a  second  room  to  be 
used  as  a  milk  room.  In  this  plan  the  cows  are  kept  in 
the  covered  barnyard,  except  during  milking  time,  where 
they  are  fed  all  kinds  of  roughage  feeds.  At  milking  time 
a  portion  of  the  cows  are  driven  into  the  milking  stable — 
which  is  constructed  in  the  most  sanitary  manner — and 
fed  their  concentrated  feeds ;  they  are  then  returned  to  the 
covered  yard,  and  the  remaining  portion  admitted  to  the 
milking  stable.  By  such  a  plan  a  large  number  of  cows 
can  be  accommodated  with  small  stable  provision.  The 


STABLE    MANURE  213 

most  sanitary  arrangements  may  thus  be  provided  with 
no  great  outlay  of  money,  considering  the  number  of  cows 
and  the  serviceable  and  sanitary  arrangement. 

To  construct  a  stable  of  this  kind,  proceed  as  follows : 
Place  twelve-inch  cedar  poles  fourteen  feet  in  length,  two 
feet  into  the  ground.  The  base  of  the  posts  should  be 
set  in  concrete  in  order  to  give  greater  bearing  surface 
and  to  preserve  the  wood.  In  setting  the  posts  allow 
twelve  feet  to  project  out  of  the  ground.  These  posts  may 
be  placed  twelve  feet  apart,  depending  a  little  on  the 
height — the  higher  the  barn,  the  closer  it  is  necessary  to 
place  them.  A  two-by-six  plate  is  placed  on  top  of  these 
posts,  set  edgewise  to  receive  the  two-by-four  rafters 
placed  sixteen  inches  from  the  center,  upon  which  the 
roof  boards  and  roof  are  placed.  The  center  posts — here 
is  where  the  haymow  comes  in — should  be  at  least  eigh- 
teen feet  high,  and  should  be  connected  and  covered  in 
the  same  manner  as  described  before. 

The  roof  may  be  made  of  cheap  roofing  material  cov- 
ered with  tar  and  then  with  sand.  The  slope  of  the  roof 
need  not  be  more  than  one  inch — a  half  inch  will  do — 
for  each  running  foot.  If  you  wish  a  cheaply  constructed 
stable,  using  this  sort  of  roofing  will  secure  it.  If  a  leak 
should  occur,  all  you  have  to  do  is  to  remove  the  excess 
gravel,  add  a  little  more  tar,  and  then  place  a  patch  of 
paper  over  the  part  that  leaks.  This  is  covered  again 
with  tar  and  gravel,  and  the  leak  is  stopped.  The  more 
of  this  patching  that  is  done,  the  more  durable  the  roof 
becomes.  It  is  simple,  and  can  be  accomplished  with  ease 
at  any  season  of  the  year. 

For  this  kind  of  roofing,  steep-pitch  roofs  must  be 
avoided,  for  the  reason  that  during  the  summer  months 
the  tar  softens  from  the  heat  of  the  stm  and  not  infre- 
quently runs  off  the  roof. 


214  SOILS 

The  sides  may  be  boarded  with  up-and-down  and  bat- 
ten, or  batten-siding  may  be  used.  Sufficient  bracing  is 
necessary  to  keep  the  boards  from  warping,  hence,  a 
proper  re-enforcing  of  the  sides  is  necessary. 

It  is  essential  that  as  many  windows  be  put  in  the  sides 
of  the  barn  as  is  practical  to  use ;  in  fact,  it  is  a  wise  plan 
and  the  most  sanitary  form  of  construction  to  have  a 
continuous  window  scheme  five  feet  from  the  ground  to 
within  one  foot  of  the  eaves.  Besides,  with  the  cheapness 
of  construction  in  such  a  system  of  stabling,  the  comfort- 
ableness for  the  stock  that  is  provided  by  such  a  barn,  and 
the  sanitary  features  it  offers  for  the  production  of  milk, 
the  Erf  system  will  become  more  and  more  in  use  and 
gradually  gain  in  favor  and  popularity.  It  will  solve  the 
manure-saving  problem  and  pay  its  entire  cost  through 
this  item  alone. 

It  is  necessary  to  have  plenty  of  bedding  at  all  times 
for  this  system  of  stabling.  But  the  yard  is  cleaned  only 
at  such  times  when  soil  is  dry  enough  and  weather  of  such 
a  nature  as  to  permit  the  hauling  of  manure  onto  the 
field.  The  manure  is  loaded  direct  into  the  spreader  and 
goes  to  the  field  in  the  best  condition,  and  under  the  most 
favorable  circumstances  so  far  as  availability  of  plant  food 
and  original  state  of  the  organic  matter  are  concerned. 

By  allowing  manure  to  accumulate  for  a  foot  or  more 
in  depth,  and  by  frequent  use  of  such  preservatives  as 
kainit,  gypsum,  or  rock  phosphate,  spread  over  the  ma- 
nure, a  slight  fermentation  only  takes  place,  and  hence, 
but  a  slight  loss  of  nitrogen  results.  Yet  decomposition 
has  advanced  sufficiently  to  make  the  manure  readily 
available  for  use  in  the  soil. 

The  air  in  the  stable  in  this  way  is  kept  pure  and 
wholesome. 

The  advantage  of  the  hay  shed  in  the  middle  of  the 


STABLE    MANURE  215 

covered  yard  and  stabling  system  is  that  labor  is  saved 
during"  feeding  operations.  Racks  are  provided  along  the 
hay  rick  or  mow  under  the  covered  yard,  into  which  hay 
or  other  roughage  is  thrown  from  the  top  of  the  rick, 
thus  avoiding  any  hauling,  double  handling  or  other 
minor  loss  of  roughage  that  is  necessary  with  other 
stabling  systems. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 
HANDLING  MANURE  ON  THE  FARM 

There  are  two  important  uses  of  stable  manure :  to 
furnish  plant  food  and  to  improve  the  physical  condition 
of  the  soil.  To  get  both  results  you  must  take  proper 
care  of  every  bit  made  on  the  farm. 


.  LETTING  THE  MANURE  GET  AWAY 

At  the  same  time  the  well  water  is  contaminated  from  the  manure  yard  and 

cesspool 

A  good  many  years  ago  Voelcker,  in  England,  showed 
with  proofs  beyond  doubt  that  farm  manure  was  used 
in  a  very  careless  and  wasteful  manner.  He  showed,  for 
instance,  that  when  manure  was  thrown  into  an  open 
barnyard — just  as  the  great  majority  of  our  American 


HANDLING  MANURE  ON  THE  FARM 


217 


farmers  handle  it — and  there  allowed  to  He  for  a  few 
months,  it  invariably  lost  from  one-half  to  two-thirds  of 
its  total  fertilizing  value,  besides  injuring  its  physical 
nature  so  much  that  it  did  little  good  when  applied  to  the 
soil.  This  means  that  two  or  three  loads  of  poorly  kept 
stable  manure  are  of  no  more  value  when  sent  to  the  soil 
than  a  single  load  properly  preserved  and  applied. 

Manure  properly  preserved  increases  crops. — An  ex- 
ample of  poorly  preserved  and  well  preserved  manure  is 
shown  in  the  field  tests  of  the  Ohio  Station,  which  have 
now  been  in  progress  for  ten  years:  two  kinds  of  manure 
were  used,  yard  manure  and  fresh  manure.  In  both  cases 
the  rate  of  application  was  eight  tons  per  acre  on  clover 
sod,  plowed  under  for  corn,  and  then  followed  in  a  three- 
year  rotation  of  wheat  and  clover  without  any  further 
manuring  or  fertilizing.  The  table  following  shows  the 
average  increase  for  each  crop  for  both  kinds  of  manure: 


Kind  of  Manure 

Bushels  of 
Corn 

Buxhf  1s  of 
Wheat 

Pounds  of 
Hay 

Yard  manure  
Fresh  manure  

16.03 

8.21 

698 
1280 

This  is  what  Director  Thome  in  discussing  these  tests 
says:  "Not  only  has  the  manure  been  greatly  reduced  in 
quantity,  but  the  quality  likewise  has  been  impaired  by 
exposure — the  rain  leaching  out  the  most  soluble,  and, 
therefore,  the  most  valuable  portions.  At  current  prices 
the  average  increase  from  a  ton  of  open-yard  manure, 
including  the  straw  and  stover,  has  been  worth  about  two 
dollars,  while  that  from  the  fresh  manure  has  reached  an 
average  value  of  nearly  three  dollars;  and  this  value  has 
been  increased  to  four  dollars  and  fifty  cents  by  reinforc- 
ing the  manure  with  acid  phosphate." 


2l8  SOILS 

Methods  of  applying  manure  to  fields. — Four  methods 
are  in  use  as  follows : 

1.  Piling  in  small  heaps,  which  are  to  be  spread  later 
in  the  season. 

2.  Hauling  to  fields  and  piling  in  large  mounds,  to  be 
distributed  later. 

3.  Scattering  on  fields  by  hand  direct  from  place  where 
made. 

4.  Distributing  by  means  of  manure  spreader. 


A    COMMON    WAY    BUT    POOR    PRACTICE 

Piling  manure  in  small  heaps,  while  still  common,  is  fast  giving  way  to  the 
manure  spreader 

Small  piles  of  manure :  a  bad  practice. — For  a  long  time 
the  most  common  way  of  applying  manure  has  been  this : 
Wagons  are  loaded  with  manure,  hauled  to  the  field;  here 
the  manure  is  dumped  into  small  piles,  eight,  ten  or  twelve 
per  load.  Later  in  the  season,  either  in  the  fall,  winter 


HANDLING  MANURE  ON  THE  FARM 

or  early  spring,  these  small  piles  are  scattered  and  the 
land  plowed.  Of  all  bad  methods,  this  is  the  most  waste- 
ful. It  is  bad  practice :  the  manure  loses  its  elements, 
which  leach  out  and  sink  into  the  soil ;  one  spot  is  made 
rich,  the  rest  of  the  land  receiving  an  insignificant  por- 
tion only ;  on  the  rich  spot  the  crop — grass,  oats  or  wheat 
— often  lodges  and  gives  no  better  results  than  the  less 
favored  portions ;  or  the  manure  heap  may  heat  and 
ferment,  losing  a  goodly  portion  of  its  nitrogen,  the  ele- 
ment most  in  demand. 

The  large  mound:  now  but  little  practiced. — The  piling 
in  large  heaps  or  mounds — thirty  to  fifty  loads  to  each — 
is  not  to  be  commended  unless  it  can  be  moistened  freely, 
that  fermentation  may  be  prevented.  It  doubles  the 
handling  and  materially  increases  the  cost  of  application. 
It  should  be  said  that  this  method  is  a  relic  of  the  old  days 
and  now  seldom  is  practiced. 

The  most  common  form  of  application  is  hand  scatter- 
ing with  manure  hauled  direct  from  the  yard  to  the  field. 
Hand  scattering  is  objectionable. — The  objection  to 
hand  scattering  lies  in  the  unevenness  of  distribution. 
Even  with  the  best  care  more  or  less  manure  falls  in 
bunches,  leaving  a  great  number  of  vacant  spaces  to  get 
no  manure  at  all.  The  result  is  this:  On  some  portions 
of  the  soil  too  much  manure  goes,  and  on  others  too  little 
or  none — making  a  double  waste.  Here  is  the  opinion  of 
Professor  Smith:  "Experiments  to-day  are  wanting  to 
exhibit  the  losses  accruing  from  throwing  the  manure  at 
the  land  in  chunks.  If  manure  is  hauled  out  in  the  dead 
of  winter  and  scattered  from  a  sleigh  box,  it  is  sure  to  be 
left  in  large  forkfuls,  scattered  unevenly.  It  is  impossible 
to  get  manure  so  applied  properly  worked  into  the  ground 
to  insure  the  mixing  of  the  decaying  organic  matter  with 
the  soil.  Remember  that  if  the  decaying  manure  is  not 


22O  SOILS 

mixed  with  the  earth,  where  its  content  of  plant  food  will 
be  absorbed,  it  cannot  exert  its  beneficial  effect  on  the 
physical  character  of  the  soil.  A  man  of  experience  is 
tempted  to  say  that  one  load  of  manure  spread  with  per- 
fect evenness  is  about  as  valuable  as  two  loads  on  the 
same  area  spread  in  chunks  and  heaps.  This  phase  of  the 
question  cannot  be  easily  exaggerated.  Until  the  manure 
becomes  an  unrecognizable  constituent  of  the  soil  itself, 
it  has  not  accomplished  its  mission.  It  must  be  digested 
in  the  soil,  assimilated  into  the  soil  system;  and  this  is 


HAULING  MANURE  TO  THE  FIELD 
To  be  most  effective  manure  should  be  drawn  direct  from  the  stable  to  the  field 

possible  alone  when  it  is  evenly  and  uniformly  spread." 

This  waste  is  avoided  when  the  manure  spreader  is 
used. 

The  manure  spreader:  it  pays  good  interest. — In  the 
first  place,  the  manure  spreader  does  its  work  well.  It 
spreads  thinly,  uniformly,  and  evenly — items  of  much 
consequence  in  handling  manure.  If  the  growing  crop 
is  to  receive  this  farm  resource  so  as  to  make  the  best 
use  of  it,  it  should  be  furnished  to  the  soil  in  the  most 
wholesome  and  in  the  best  usable  form ;  it  must  be  given 
the  soil  in  a  way  that  allows  rapid  decomposition  and 
complete,  even  incorporation  into  the  soil. 


HANDLING  MANURE  ON  THE  FARM  221 

In  the  second  place,  the  spreader  is  a  labor-saving 
device.  The  four-tine  fork  method  of  spreading  is  ex- 
pensive and  out  of  date.  It  costs  too  much  to  handle 
manure  in  this  old  way;  it  does  the  work  too  unsatisfac- 
torily; it  calls  for  too  much  labor;  it  fails  in  having  the 
manure  taken  to  the  field  properly,  thus  securing  to  the 
soil  the  full  value  of  the  manure,  both  chemically  and 
physically.  The  labor  required  in  spreading  a  load  of 


MANURE    SPREADER    AT    WORK 

When  the  spreader  is  used   manure  is  applied  thinly,  evenly  and  uniformly. 
Then,  too,  the  cost  of  application  is  reduced 

manure  by  the  spreader  is  less  than  one-half  that  required 
by  either  of  the  old  methods — by  spreading  broadcast  by 
hand  or  by  piling  in  small  heaps  in  the  field. 

In  the  third  place,  the  manure  spreader  pays.  I  know 
this  suggestion  means  another  costly  machine  for  the 
farm.  The  question  now  arises:  Is  the  manure  spreader 
worth  its  cost?  It  most  certainly  is.  In  my  judgment 
there  is  no  machine  now  used  on  the  farm  that  pays  a 
better  interest  on  the  investment.  For  simply  putting  the 


222  SOILS 

manure  on  the  land  in  the  best  form  a  high  rate  of  inter- 
est is  paid  on  the  original  cost;  for  decreasing  the  ex- 
pense of  application  a  high  rate  of  interest  is  paid  on  the 
investment ;  for  having  at  hand  at  all  times  a  vehicle  for 
handling  manure  as  it  accumulates  a  high  rate  of  inter- 
est is  paid  on  the  investment;  for  doing  all  these  things — 
for  helping  the  farmer  with  his  work,  for  removing  the 
drudgery  and  disagreeableness  of  handling  stable  manure 
— the  manure  spreader  is  needed,  and  its  initial  expense 
is  met  several  times  each  season. 

When  to  apply  manure. — Manure  should  be  applied  as 
fast  as  it  is  made,  unless  some  good  provision  can  be  had 
for  its  protection  and  preservation  against  loss  by  fer- 
mentation or  by  leaching.  The  covered  barnyard  and  the 
manure  pit  have  come  into  use  and  popularity  with  recent 
years,  doing  much  in  the  way  of  saving  manure  against 
loss.  These  provisions  are  good  only  for  certain  seasons 
of  the  year;  when  it  is  impracticable  to  get  out  on  the 
fields  with  the  spreader  so  as  to  make  direct  application 
of  the  manure  to  the  land. 

Broadly  speaking,  the  sooner  the  manure  can  be  got 
into  the  soil  the  better,  for  these  reasons :  the  organic 
matter  is  still  intact  and  the  plant  food  is  preserved.  The 
rotting  of  manure  means  a  waste  of  organic  matter. 
Such  rotting  should  be  allowed  to  take  place  within  the 
soil.  As  the  manure  rots,  so  will  the  soil  rot ;  so  will  the 
compounds  containing  plant  food  rot  and  thereby  furnish 
available  plant  food. 

We  want  a  lot  of  organic  matter  in  the  soil,  for  the 
reason  that  organic  matter  is  the  basis  of  humus  supply ; 
and  hence  it  regulates  the  water  content  of  the  soil  and 
the  activity  of  bacteria,  whose  work  is  so  intimately  con- 
nected with  the  growth  of  crops. 

That  manure  materially  decreases  in  bulk  and  in  plant- 


HANDLING  MANURE  ON  THE  FARM  223 

food  value  is  shown  in  an  experiment  recorded  by  Pro- 
fessor Roberts.  Starting  with  4,000  pounds  of  manure, 
the  amount  decreased  to  1,730  pounds;  because  of  poor 
preservation,  sixty  per  cent,  of  the  nitrogen  escaped  into 
the  air,  seventy-five  per  cent,  of  the  potassium  and  forty 
per  cent,  of  the  phosphorus  leached  away  in  rain  water — 
in  all  a  loss  so  great  that  no  farm  can  stand  it  even  for  a 
short  time. 

When  this  pile  of  manure  is  considered  from  the  stand- 
point of  its  money  value,  we  find  that  at  the  beginning  it 
was  worth  $5.48 ;  but  after  being  exposed  for  five  months, 
the  plant-food  value  was  only  $2.03 — scarcely  one-third  its 
original  value.  Surely  no  farmer  can  afford  to  follow  any 
method  so  wasteful  as  this.  What  method  do  you  follow? 
Just  bear  this  in  mind:  If  you  haul  manure  to  the  field 
and  spread  thinly  over  the  soil  as  fast  as  it  is  made,  say 
each  day  or  once  a  week,  you  will  not  only  save  all  the 
plant  food  it  contains,  but  you  will  give  the  soil  all  the 
benefit  of  the  action  of  fermentation  on  the  soil. 

When  we  consider  that  at  least  half  of  the  entire  amount 
of  manure  made  on  our  farms  is  as  carelessly  handled,  we 
can  realize  in  short  order  the  enormous  loss  that  annually 
takes  place ;  a  loss  in  real  value  as  large  as  the  entire  crop 
of  American  wheat  or  cotton  is  worth.  Just  take  this 
direction  and  you  will  find  an  explanation  for  the  deple- 
tion of  so  many  lands  ;  you  will  find  the  real  cause  of  so 
much  poor  farming  and  of  lessened  yields ;  you  will  find, 
in  a  large  measure,  the  true  meaning  of  abandoned  farms ; 
you  will  find  the  gist  of  all  the  troubles  that  infect  the 
soil,  the  farm,  and  the  farmer. 

These  evil  results  may  be  eliminated — at  least  reduced 
to  a  minimum — if  the  manure  be  applied  direct  to  the 
fields. 

Where  to  apply  manure. — You  ought  not  apply  manure 


224  SOILS 

on  lands  containing  a  large  amount  of  nitrates.  There 
is  too  great  danger  that  these  will  be  broken  up  by 
the  decay  of  the  manure ;  hence,  manure  should  go  to  the 
fields  where  the  supply  of  nitrates  is  at  their  lowest  point : 
during  the  fall,  just  after  crops  have  fructified ;  during 
winter,  when  nitrification  is  slow  or  inactive ;  in  the 
spring,  when  the  supply  of  nitrates  is  still  low.  It  is 
unwise,  perhaps,  in  the  summer,  when  the  nitrate  supply 
is  unused  and  still  large,  to  apply  manure  to  cultivated 


CRIMSON  CLOVER  IN  THE  SOUTH 

Humus  is  added  to  the  land  and  nitrogen  is  secured  for  crops.      Crimson  clover 
is  a  splendid  crop  for  the  greater  part  of  the  South 

lands;  the  risk  is  too  much,  for  these  nitrates  are  likely 
to  be  lost.  There  is  no  objection,  however,  in  sending 
manure  at  all  times,  and  especially  during  the  winter  and 
spring  months,  to  grass  or  pasture  or  mowing  fields.  A 
clover  sod  that  is  to  be  planted  to  corn  in  the  spring  is 
an  ideal  place  for  a  thin,  even,  and  uniform  covering  of 
manure. 

How  much  manure  to  apply  .—As  a  general  rule,  it  is 
more  scientific  to  apply  small  amounts  of  manure  fre- 
quently than  to  supply  large  amounts  at  longer  intervals. 


HANDLING  MANURE  ON  THE  FARM  225 

This  is  the  best  fixed  rule  that  I  am  able  to  give.  This 
point  has  been  tested  at  several  stations.  In  New  Hamp- 
shire four  tons  per  acre  applied  each  year  for  three  years 
furnished  an  increase  of  thirty-one  per  cent,  more  of  corn 
than  a  single  application  of  nine  tons  per  acre  at  one  time. 
Commenting  on  an  experiment  of  a  similar  nature  at  the 
Ohio  Station,  Director  Thorne  says:  "We  have  compared 
the  value  of  manure  applied  at  the  rate  of  four  and  eight 
tons  per  acre.  The  result  has  been  that  the  increase  per 
ton  of  manure  has  been  more  than  twenty-five  per  cent, 
greater  when  used  at  the  smaller  rate,  although  the  in- 
crease per  acre  has  been  larger  when  used  at  the  larger 
rate ;  hence,  when  manure  is  scarce,  it  is  better  to  apply 
it  in  smaller  quantities  so  as  to  cover  all  the  land  in  crop, 
rather  than  to  spread  it  over  part  of  the  land  only  and 
leave  part  unmanured." 

The  accumulative  effect  of  farm  manure. — By  the  use 
of  barnyard  manure  a  farmer  can  easily  and  quickly  im- 
prove the  soil  of  his  farm  and  at  the  same  time  secure 
permanent  results.  Deficiencies  are  supplied — both  plant 
food  and  bacterial  activity — even  with  a  single  application. 

The  lasting  effect  of  barnyard  manure  is  expressed  very 
clearly  by  Professor  Snyder  as  follows  :  "When  a  dressing 
of  eight  tons  of  manure  is  applied,  which  is  not  a  heavy 
dressing,  an  increase  of  twenty  bushels  of  corn  is  secured 
the  first  year.  \Ye  have  secured  this  much  and  more  in 
our  experiments.  It  is  not  difficult  to  assign  a  value  to  the 
corn.  In  addition  to  the  increase  of  twenty  bushels  of 
corn,  more  corn  stover  is  secured,  which  can  be  used  for 
feed  and  thus  turned  into  manure  and  made  to  add  to  the 
fertility  of  the  soil.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  the  increase  in 
the  corn  crop  alone  is  $6.  The  value  of  the  manure 
docs  not  stop  here.  If  following  the  corn  the  second 
year  after  the  application  of  manure  wheat  be  sown, 


226  SOILS 

an  increase  of  at  least  three  bushels  of  wheat  may 
be  secured.  This  is  all  due  to  the  residual  action  of  the 
manure  and  the  better  cultivation  of  the  land.  The  arver- 
age  value  of  this  wheat  would  be  about  $4.50. 

"The  additional  straw  from  the  larger  crop  of  wheat  is 
converted  into  manure  and  returned  to  the  soil.  Suppose 
that  clover  be  sown  with  the  wheat.  The  manure  that  the 
land  has  received  would  insure  a  better  stand  of  clover, 
and,  in  fact,  it  might  be  the  deciding  factor  as  to  whether 
any  clover  at  all  would  be  obtained.  It  has  been  shown 
by  experiments  that  one  ton  more  of  clover  per  acre 
may  be  secured  on  manured  land  than  on  that  left  unma- 
nured.  Not  only  can  a  ton  more  of  clover  be  obtained, 
but  there  will  be  more  and  better  pasture.  It  is  hard  to 
assign  a  value  to  this  crop  because  of  both  its  feeding 
and  manurial  value,  but  it  will  be  worth  at  least  $5.25. 
After  growing  clover,  the  land  will  increase  in  crop-pro- 
ducing value.  If  the  clover  is  followed  by  wheat,  there 
should  be  an  increase  of  nine  bushels  over  land  receiving 
no  manure,  making  crop-producing  value  of  the  farm 
manure  and  clover  equal  to  $5.25  for  the  fourth  year.  If 
the  wheat  is  followed  by  oats,  a  further  increase  should 
be  secured.  The  oats  are  worth  $3.  During  the  five 
years  the  increase  in  the  value  of  the  crops  where  farm 
manure  was  used,  clover  grown,  and  better  cultivation 
given  to  the  land  should  be  $24.  This  makes  the  value 
of  the  manure  $3  per  ton  distributed  over  a  period  of 
five  years." 

Why  should  we  longer  deny  our  old  lands  the  beneficial 
influences  of  stable  manure?  Why  should  we  longer 
neglect  it  and  abuse  it?  Why  should  we  longer  offer  it 
the  least  consideration  of  all  products  of  the  farm? 


CHAPTER  XXIV 
BUYING  PLANT  FOOD  FOR  THE  SOIL 

The  three  fertilizer  constituents  are  nitrogen,  phospho- 
rus, and  potassium,  for  the  reason  that  in  lands  long 
cultivated  they  have  been  diminished  more  nearly  in  the 
soil.  \Yhile  there  is  just  now  a  great  deal  of  controversy 
as  to  the  real  office  of  a  fertilizer,  still,  there  is  no  question 


COW    PEAS    AND    FERTILIZERS    AND    A    POOR    SOIL 

1.  Phosphorus  and  potassium,  but  no  nitrogen 

2.  Nitrogen,  but  no  phosphorus  and  potassium 

3.  No  fertilizers  of  any  kind  applied 

about  their  value  on  many  lands.  It  may  be  that  a  fer- 
tilizer has  some  other  office  besides  that  of  supplying  plant 
food  .  nevertheless,  plant  food  is  a  factor  in  soil  fertility. 
The  office  of  nitrogen. — We  have  learned  that  many 
elements  are  essential  to  the  perfect  development  of  the 
plant  and  that  each  has  a  special  work  to  do.  which  work 
cannot  in  any  case  be  done  by  any  other  clement.  Xitro- 


228  SOILS 

gen,  for  example,  has  its  most  important  function  in 
developing  stalks  and  leaves  and  stems  rather  than  fruit 
or  seed.  You  observe  readily  this  fact:  Where  large 
applications  of  stable  manure  have  been  made,  note  the 
heavy,  rich  growth ;  and  frequently  you  will  find  the  yield 
is  decreased  because  of  the  abnormal  growth  of  stalk  and 
stems  due  to  an  abundance  of  nitrogen  in  the  soil. 

You  get  the  same  results  when  you  plant  a  corn  or 
wheat  or  cotton  crop  after  peas  or  clover  or  alfalfa  or  any 
other  legume  that  has  added  nitrogen  to  the  soil.  A  prac- 
tical observation  is  here :  when  you  observe  large  devel- 


A     CASE    WHERE    ALL    THREE    ELEMENTS     ARE    NEEDED 

opment  of  stalk  and  leaf  at  the  expense  of  fruit,  you  may 
know  that  nitrogen  is  not  needed  in  the  fertilizer;  but 
phosphorus  and  potassium,  perhaps,  ought  to  be  supplied 
that  the  plants  may  produce  seed  and  fruit  in  proportion 
to  stalk  and  leaf. 

The  offices  of  phosphorus  and  potassium. — This  sug- 
gests the  main  office  of  phosphorus  and  of  potassium. 
Both  are  opposite  to  that  of  nitrogen ;  and  both  are 
directed  toward  increasing  the  grain  or  fruit  of  the  plant. 
When  a  large  amount  of  some  phosphorus-carrying  fer- 
tilizing material  is  applied  to  the  soil,  the  growth  of  the 
plants  is  not  more  pronounced,  but  the  yield  is  increased, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  the  crop  matures  earlier.  On  the 


BUYING    PLANT    FOOD    FOR    THE    SOIL  22Q 

other  hand,  potassium  has  a  tendency  to  prolong  the 
growth  of  crops,  but  its  chief  office  is  increasing  the 
yield  or  quantity  of  fruit.  Consequently,  when  the  yield 
is  small,  you  may  conclude  there  is  a  deficiency  of  either 
phosphorus  or  potassium — or  both — in  the  soil. 

And  again  :  if  you  observe  that  your  plants  are  of  rich, 
green  color  and  of  good  size,  you  may  be  sure  they  are 
not  in  need  of  nitrogen.  If,  however,  they  are  small  and 
pale  and  sickly  in  appearance,  you  may  know  that  nitro- 
gen is  sorely  in  need. 

Nitrogen  is  the  most  costly  element  of  plant  food  we 
buy,  and  for  this  reason  we  should  depend  upon  home- 
made manures  and  the  various  legumes  for  every  bit  of 
nitrogen  that  is  needed  on  the  farm.  Of  course,  we  can- 
not get  our  phosphorus  and  potassium  in  that  way.  These 
come  from  the  soil  and  not  from  the  air;  hence,  a  de- 
ficiency in  either  must  come  through  some  artificial 
means. 

Sources  of  nitrogen. — While  nitrogen  is  one  of  the  most 
abundant  of  substances,  just  the  same,  it  is  one  of  the 
easiest  lost  and  used  up  in  the  soil.  In  buying  nitrogen 
as  a  fertilizer,  you  must  seek  a  material  already  having 
it  in  combination.  In  combination  with  the  element 
hydrogen  (which  is  a  constituent  of  water)  ammonia  is 
formed,  and  a  gas  it  is,  also;  and  it  is  very  soluble  in 
water.  The  pungent  odor  of  ammonia  water  is  due  to 
ammonia  gas.  Thus  we  get  the  same  odor  in  stables  and 
fresh  manure  piles:  ammonia  gas  is  passing  off  into  the 
air,  later  to  be  brought  down  by  dew  or  rain,  fertilizing, 
perhaps,  some  distant  field. 

Ammonia  has  a  great  fondness  for  sulphuric  acid,  and 
unites  with  it  with  vigor,  giving  rise  to  a  substance  white 
and  solid,  and  known  to  fertilizer  dealers  and  users  as 
sulphate  of  ammonia. 


230  SOILS 

The  commercial  sulphate  of  ammonia  contains  about 
twenty  per  cent,  of  nitrogen,  or  four  hundred  pounds  of 
nitrogen  to  the  ton.  In  this  material  the  ammonia  is  held 
and  is  prevented  from  escaping  by  the  sulphuric  acid. 
Sulphate  of  ammonia  is  easily  soluble  in  water,  and  dis- 
tributes itself  through  the  soil  where  plant  roots  can  get 
at  it.  It  adds  to  the  nitrogen  stores  where  come  plant 
roots  for  the  nitrogen  necessary  to  their  growth. 

On  account  of  the  ease  with  which  water  dissolves  it, 
sulphate  of  ammonia  is  one  of  our  most  valuable  and 


NITROGEN 
NITRATE  of  SODA.          < 
SULPHATEof  AMMONIA 
DRIED    BLOOD 
TANKAGE 
FISH     SCRAP 
COTTON  SEED  MEAL 

PHOSPHOROUS 

ACID  PHOSPHATE 
GROUND  BONE: 
DISSOLVED  BONE 
POTASSIUM 

KAINIT 

MURIATE  of  POTASH 

SULPHATEof  POTASH 

ASHES 


OUR  COMMON   FERTILIZING   MATERIALS 

quickly  acting  sources  of  nitrogen  for  plants,  but,  at  the 
same  time,  it  is  one  of  the  most  costly  sources.  It  is  not 
as  readily  washed  out  of  soils  as  nitrate  of  soda. 

The  chief  source  of  supply  is  at  the  gas  factory,  where 
it  becomes  a  waste  product  in  the  manufacture  of  gas 
from  soft  coal,  and  in  the  production  of  coke  from  coal. 

Nitrate  of  soda  or  chili  saltpeter  is  a  white  solid  ma- 
terial that  is  mined  in  the  rainless  districts  of  South 
America.  As  found  there,  it  is  mixed  with  other  sub- 
stances, but  when  purified,  it  is  put  on  the  market  as 
commercial  nitrate  of  soda  to  be  used  as  a  chemical 


BUYING    PLANT    FOOD    FOR    THE    SOIL  23! 

manure  for  lands.  When  prepared  for  commercial  use, 
it  contains  fifteen  and  one-half  to  sixteen  per  cent,  of 
nitrogen,  or  320  pounds  to  the  ton.  The  remaining  1,680 
pounds  of  the  ton  are  the  elements  sodium  and  oxygen, 
to  which  the  nitrogen  is  united,  and  these  form  the  nitrate 
of  soda.  In  addition  to  these,  forty  to  sixty  pounds  of 
impurities — mostly  common  salt — are  present  in  each 
ton  of  the  commercial  product. 

Nitrate  of  soda  dissolves  in  water  with  great  ease,  and 
readily  distributes  itself  in  the  soil.  It  is  in  this  form 
that  plants  like  most  to  use  nitrogen,  and  it  is  in  this 
form  they  take  it  up  in  greatest  abundance:  in  no  other 
does  nitrogen  act  more  quickly  or  show  its  effect  more 
quickly  when  applied  to  the  soil.  So  in  two  or  three  days 
after  an  application  of  the  fertilizer  is  made,  its  effect  is 
seen  on  growing  plants.  They  show  an  increase  in  vigor, 
a  deeper  green  color  is  seen,  and  greater  activity  in 
growth  is  apparent  at  once. 

In  this  connection  it  might  be  worth  your  while  to 
recall  to  mind  this  fact:  nitrogen,  in  nearly  every  case, 
enters  plants  as  a  nitrate.  Sulphate  of  ammonia,  for  in- 
stance, when  used  as  a  fertilizer,  sometimes  is  acted  upon 
by  micro-organisms  which  change  the  ammonia  form  to 
the  nitrate  form.  Of  course,  there  is  an  objection  when 
any  large  quantity  of  nitrates  are  present  in  the  soil :  it  is 
soluble,  and  soil  water  and  drainage  waters  gather  it  up 
and  carry  it  away — out  of  reach  of  plants,  out  into  the 
sea,  perhaps.  A  great  quantity  of  nitrogen  is  lost  in  this 
way  each  year. 

Dried  blood  contains  from  eight  to  twelve  per  cent, 
of  nitrogen  and  from  seven  to  fourteen  per  cent,  of  phos- 
phoric acid,  and  is  the  richest  substance  coming  from  ani- 
mal products. 

When  live  stock  is  slaughtered,  the  blood  is  collected  in 


232  SOILS 

tanks  and  boiled  that  the  albuminoids  may  be  coagulated. 
The  water  of  this  material  is  then  removed ;  the  resulting 
materials  are  pressed  into  cake,  and  later  broken,  and 
dried,  and  ground — all  operations  essential  in  making  the 
commercial  product. 

Tankage. — This  is  a  by-product  of  the  slaughter-house 
and  contains  from  four  to  eight  per  cent,  of  nitrogen  and 
from  seven  to  fourteen  per  cent,  of  phosphoric  acid.  It 
slowly  decomposes  in  the  soil,  and  is  generally  appre- 
ciated as  a  chemical  fertilizer.  Included  in  this  product 
are  intestines,  lungs,  tendons,  bones,  blood,  and  other 
refuse.  After  being  cooked  in  tanks  and  pressed,  it  is 
dried  and  ground,  and  then  is  sent  out  as  a  fertilizer  or 
as  a  feeding  stuff  for  pigs. 

Dried  and  ground  fish — or  dried  fish  scrap,  as  it  is 
often  called — is  a  by-product  of  the  fish-oil  and  canning 
factories.  Both  nitrogen  and  phosphorus  are  contained  in 
this  product:  from  six  to  eight  per  cent,  of  the  former, 
and  from  seven  to  nine  per  cent,  of  the  latter.  This  by- 
product is  consumed  largely  by  those  near  the  sources  of 
supply. 

Cotton-seed  meal. — Usually  about  seven  per  cent,  of 
nitrogen,  or  one  hundred  and  forty  pounds  to  the  ton,  are 
found  in  this  fertilizing  material.  It  is  by  far  the  most 
important  of  the  vegetable  products  used  as  commercial 
fertilizers.  It  decays  somewhat  rapidly,  yet  lasts  long 
enough  so  that  the  growing  crop  may  use  it.  It  is  more 
promptly  available  than  tankage,  but  much  less  quickly 
available  than  either  nitrate  of  soda  or  sulphate  of  am- 
monia. 

Cotton-seed  meal  is  a  by-product  of  the  cotton-oil  mill. 
In  removing  the  oil  from  cotton  seed,  the  seed  are  cut  into 
bits  and  cooked  and  pressed  into  cakes.  These  cakes  are 
then  ground  into  fine  meal,  which  may  be  used  either  a§ 


BUYING    PLANT    FOOD    FOR    THE    SOIL 


233 


a  feeding  stuff  or  as  a  fertilizer.  The  amount  of  cotton- 
seed meal  used  for  fertilizing  purposes  is  very  large  in  the 
South.  It  is  not  economy,  however  ;  for  a  vegetable  prod- 
uct so  rich  in  protein  as  cotton-seed  meal  to  be  buried  in 
the  ground  is  poor  economy  and  a  waste  of  wealth.  Cot- 
ton-seed meal  ought  first  to  be  fed  to  live  stock  and  the 
resulting  manure  returned  to  the  land.  When  properly 
utilized  in  this  way,  both  humus  and  available  plant  food 
will  be  secured,  or  a  double  profit ;  a  profit  from  the 
meal  as  food,  and  a  profit  from  it  as  a  fertilizer. 

Sources  of  phosphorus. — Phosphorus  cannot  be  used 
as  a  fertilizer  in  a  free  state,  for  the  reason  it  readily 


WHERE  ACID   PHOSPHATE    PAYS 
Every  man  who  uses  chemical  manures  ought  to  test  his  land 

takes  fire.  Consequently,  when  used  for  commercial  pur- 
poses it  always  is  found  in  combination  with  lime,  iron,  or 
some  similar  substance  present  in  the  soil. 

A  combination  of  this  sort  gives  rise  to  what  is  known 
as  phosphate.  Phosphate  of  lime,  for  instance,  constitutes 
the  main  portion  of  bone  and  the  various  phosphate  rocks 
mined  in  North  and  South  Carolina,  in  Tennessee,  in 


234  SOILS 

Georgia,  and  in  Florida.  As  taken  from  these  mines,  this 
rock  contain"  from  twenty-six  to  thirty-five  per  cent,  of 
phosphoric  acid,  the  remaining  portion  of  the  rock  being 
such  impurities  as  sand,  clay,  limestone,  and  water.  In 
its  raw  or  natural  state,  phosphate  has  three  parts  of  lime 
united  with  the  phosphoric  acid.  The  chemists  call  this 
tri-calcium  phosphate.  It  is  very  insoluble  in  water,  and 
plants  cannot  use  it.  To  make  it  soluble  in  water  and  fit 
it  for  plant  food,  the  rock  is  finely  ground  and  treated  with 
sulphuric  acid,  which  acts  upon  it  in  such  a  way  as  to  take 
from  the  three-lime  phosphate  two  parts  of  its  lime,  thus 
leaving  only  one  part  of  lime  united  to  the  phosphoric 
acid.  This  one-lime  phosphate  is  what  is  known  as  water- 
soluble  phosphoric  acid. 

On  long  standing,  this  water-soluble  phosphoric  acid 
has  a  tendency  to  take  lime  from  every  substance  in  con- 
tact with  it,  and  in  so  doing  becomes  less  soluble.  This 
gives  rise  to  the  term  "reverted"  or  "gone-back"  phos- 
phoric acid. 

In  this  product  there  is  supposed  to  be  two  parts  of 
lime  in  combination  with  the  phosphoric  acid  and  is  thus 
an  intermediate  product  between  soluble  and  the  original 
rock.  Of  course,  in  treating  with  sulphuric  acid,  some 
of  the  ground  rock  is  not  acted  on  by  sulphuric  acid,  and, 
hence,  is  left  in  its  original  insoluble  condition.  In  this 
we  get  insoluble  phosphoric  acid,  as  our  fertilizer  bags 
often  indicate.  Available  phosphoric  acid  is  made  of  the 
water — soluble  and  reverted ;  it  is  the  sum  of  these  two ; 
and  the  available  and  insoluble  make  the  total  phosphoric 
acid — it  includes  all  the  phosphoric  acid  present. 

When  you  buy  fertilizers  again',  just  bear  these  facts 
in  mind. 

I  believe  you  will  be  more  interested  hereafter  in  get- 
ting available  phosphoric  acid  than  total  phosphoric  acid, 


BUYING    PLANT    FOOD    FOR    THE    SOIL  235 

if  immediate  results  are  desired.  If  a  soil  contains  plenty 
of  humus,  however,  it  often  may  be  more  economical  to 
apply  the  cheaper,  untreated  rock.  This  is  especially  true 
if  it  be  applied  with  decaying  organic  matter  as  manure 
or  sod.  High-grade  acid  phosphate  is  preferable  to  the 
low-grade  since  there  is  more  soluble  phosphoric  acid  in 
the  former  and  less  in  the  latter. 

In  making  acid  phosphate,  ground  rock  and  sulphuric 
acid  are  mixed  in  about  equal  weights,  and  as  a  result 
the  acid  phosphate  produced  has  only  about  one-half  as 
much  phosphoric  acid  per  ton  as  the  rock  from  which  it 
was  made.  Consequently,  we  find  that  acid  phosphate 
contains  from  ten  to  nineteen  per  cent,  of  phosphoric  acid. 

Bone  fertilizers. — Bone  was  early  used  as  a  fertilizer, 
and  is  still  popular  to-day.  The  many  names  for  bone — 
raw  bone,  ground  bone,  fine  ground  bone,  bone  dust,  bone 
meal,  and  dissolved  bone — indicate  the  mechanical  treat- 
ment and  physical  condition  of  the  fertilizer. 

Ground  bone  contains  from  two  to  four  per  cent,  of 
nitrogen  and  twenty  to  thirty  per  cent,  of  phosphoric 
acid ;  steamed  bone  from  one  to  two  per  cent,  of  nitrogen 
and  from  twenty-five  to  thirty  per  cent,  of  phosphoric 
acid ;  and  dissolved  bone  from  two  to  three  per  cent,  of 
nitrogen  and  from  twelve  to  fourteen  per  cent,  of  avail- 
able phosphoric  acid.  Bone  meal  is  not  a  quick-acting 
fertilizer,  hence,  this  material  is  not  desirable  when  a 
quickly  acting  material  is  wanted;  but  for  lawns,  perma- 
nent grass  lands,  and  long-growing  crops,  bone  meal  is 
very  desirable  for  both  nitrogen  and  phosphoric  acid. 

Treated  rock  and  treated  bone  are  the  chief  sources 
of  phosphorus  for  plant  food.  There  are  large  quantities 
of  each  of  these  materials,  and  so  the  cost  of  phosphorus  is 
moderate  in  price,  and  it  ought  to  be  used  whenever  the 
demands  of  the  soil  require  it. 


236 


SOILS 


Sources  of  potassium. — In  the  olden  days  our  fathers 
depended  upon  wood  ashes  for  soap-making"  purposes, 
and  learned  early  of  their  value  as  a  help  for  old  and 
worn-out  lands.  Their  value  may  have  been  due  to  the 


A  MUCK  SOIL  THAT  PROFITABLY  USES  POTASSIUM 

A  celery  and  lettuce  crop  when  500  pounds  of  sulphate  of  potash  are  used 

per  acre 

lime  present  in  the  ashes  (lime,  you  know,  corrects  acid- 
ity and  improves  physical  condition),  or  it  may  have  been 
due  to  the  potassium  contained  in  the  ashes,  and  which 
served  as  a  plant  food. 

Wood  ashes  are  valuable,  therefore,  both  for  the  potash 
and  lime  they  contain.  In  unleached  ashes,  potassium 
runs  from  two  to  eight  per  cent. — the  hard  wood  supply- 
ing the  greatest  quantity  and  the  soft  wood  the  least. 
Potassium  in  ashes  is  readily  soluble  in  water,  hence,  ex- 


BUYING    PLANT    FOOD    FOR    THE    SOIL  237 

posure  to  rain  results  in  the  removal  of  the  potassium,  so 
that  when  ashes  are  subject  to  this  sort  of  treatment  they 
lose  their  fertilizing  value. 

The  chief  source  of  potash  materials,  however,  is  the 
Strassfurt  mines  in  Germany,  where  they  occur  in  great 
abundance  and  variety. 

Kainit. — This  substance  is  largely  used  in  the  South  as 
a  potassium  carrier  for  cotton.  It  contains  twelve  and 
one-half  per  cent,  of  potassium,  or  two  hundred  and  fifty 
pounds  to  the  ton.  It  is  a  crude  product  of  the  Strass- 
furt mines,  the  impurities  present  being  common  salt  and 
magnesium  chlorid. 

Muriate  of  potash. — It  is  a  purified  product  of  the 
potash  mines,  and  is  one  of  the  richest  materials  supply- 
ing potassium.  It  contains  about  fifty  per  cent,  of  potas- 
sium, or  one  thousand  pounds  to  the  ton. 

Sulphate  of  potash. — This  material  contains  from 
forty-eight  to  fifty  per  cent,  of  potassium,  an  average  of 
one  thousand  pounds  to  the  ton,  which  is  in  the  form  of 
sulphate,  and  it  possesses  several  advantages  for  such 
crops  as  tobacco  and  Irish  potatoes. 

The  sulphate  of  potash  is  more  expensive  than  is  either 
muriate  of  potash  or  kainit,  but  is  less  extensively  used, 
although  its  use  is  on  the  increase. 


CHAPTER  XXV 
USING  CHEMICAL  MANURES  INTELLIGENTLY 

The  use  of  chemical  manures  has  greatly  increased 
within  the  last  twenty-five  years.  This  has  been  due  to 
the  fact  that  large  areas  of  land  have  become  exhausted 
in  productive  power,  and,  without  the  intelligent  aid  they 
ought  to  receive,  they  are  unable  to  gather  strength 
enough  to  produce  crops  with  profit  unless  they  are  sup- 
plied with  artificial  fertilizers. 

Here  are  reasons  that  this  is  so :  little  thought  in  main- 
taining fertility  has  been  given  ;  small  quantities  of  home- 
made manures  have  been  made  and  preserved;  raw  ma 


CORN 

WHEAT 

SEED     COTTON          LINT  COTTON                      TOBACCO 

_ 

b 

: 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

-- 

1 

D  n  n 

| 

PHOSPHOROUS 

g 
c_ 

i 

1  i     1  1  1      1 

§ 
i 

^ 

DEMANDS  ON  THE   SOIL  BY  FOUR  LEADING  FIELD   CROPS 
(average  yields) 

terials,  like  corn  and  cotton  seed,  have  been  sold  from  the 
farm,  instead  of  being  fed  there;  poor  tillage  has  been 
rendered ;  leguminous  crops  have  been  grown  in  a 
limited  way  only;  systems  of  farming  have  been  ill 
planned;  and  crop  rotation  has  been  ignored  and  neg- 
lected. Just  at  these  points  you  will  find  the  reasons  why 
the  business  of  making  and  selling  and  buying  chemical 


USING    CHEMICAL    MANURES     INTELLIGENTLY          239 

fertilizers  has  reached  the  enormous  proportions  it  now 
possesses. 

The  cost  of  chemical  manures  represents  a  tremendous 
draft  on  the  profits  of  the  farm ;  a  draft  that  is  paid  often 
with  difficulty.  With  the  coming  of  each  seed  time,  there 
comes  also  the  ever-recurring  fertilizer  problem.  And  it 
is  not  solved,  and  so  long  as  we  continue  as  we  are,  it 
never  will  be  solved.  What  once  was  a  choice  is  now  a 
necessity ;  because  of  the  constant  dosings,  humus  has 
been  used  up  in  a  soil  and  many  crops  in  many  parts  of 
the  country  are  grown  with  profit  only  when  the  fertilizer 
drill  injects  concentrated  plant  foods  into  the  soil,  and  in 
constantly  increasing  doses. 

With  good  tillage,  a  wise,  well-planned  change,  a  lavish 
use  of  legumes,  humus  and  stable  manure,  the  situation 
will  be  relieved  and  chemical  manures  will  be  largely  un- 
necessary. If  we  would  remember  that  fertilizers  pay 
him  best  who  best  prepares  his  land,  we  would  at  once 
make  a  long  step  in  the  correct  use  of  fertilizers,  for 
chemical  manures,  used  most  wisely  and  most  economic- 
ally, go  always  with  high  culture  and  improve  soils. 

But  we  ought  not  blame  fertilizers :  only  our  lack  of 
knowledge  in  using  them.  We  ought  not  use  them  as 
first  necessities  but  rather  as  supplementary  amend- 
ments— and  they  are  these — to  help  in  the  work  of  crop 
production. 

Factory-mixed  fertilizers:  most  in  use. — The  mixed 
fertilizers  constitute  the  great  bulk  of  trade  in  commer- 
cial fertilizers.  As  a  rule,  these  are  complete  fertilizers: 
they  contain  nitrogen,  phosphorus  and  potassium — the 
three  elements  most  likely  to  be  deficient  in  soils.  Of 
course,  the  soil  may  require  but  one  of  these  elements; 
but  what  cares  the  fertilizer  dealer  if  he  can  sell  you  the 
other  two  also?  That  is  his  business,  And  it  is  your 


240  SOILS 

business  to  buy  only  such  an  element  or  elements  as  you 
need.  The  real  fault  is  yours :  you  are  slow  in  ascer- 
taining just  what  you  need. 

The  elements  are  now  sold  in  nearly  every  sort  of  pro- 
portion, and  they  are  supplied  in  materials  of  many  kinds 
and  names.  And  it  is  with  regret  that  one  is  forced  to  say 
that  fertilizers  are  not  compounded  in  accordance  with 
any  principle  of  scientific  importance.  There  seems  to  be 
no  rational  explanation,  either,  of  the  proportions  as  now 
used  in  the  preparation  of  goods  by  the  average  manu- 
facturing concern.  I  doubt  if  there  has  been  any  phase 
of  American  agriculture  that  has  come  into  practice  more 
irrationally  than  that  dealing  with  the  compounding  and 
use  of  chemical  manures. 

When  a  farmer  wishes  to  fertilize  his  land,  he  usually 
buys  some  fertilizer  without  any  knowledge  of  its  effect, 
without  any  knowledge  that  his  soil  will  profit  by  it, 
without  any  knowledge  as  to  whether  the  yield  will  be 
increased.  He  uses  fertilizers  solely  on  the  theory  that 
they  may  pay.  He  guesses  about  the  matter  and  then 
hopes  it  will  be  all  right.  But  this  is  not  good  business ; 
and  it  is  not  good  farming.  Any  other  kind  of  business 
would  be  wrecked  in  a  very  short  time  by  such 
methods. 

We  must  get  out  of  the  way  of  adopting  fertilizers 
simply  because  they  have  high-sounding  names.  Just  re- 
member that  a  fertilizer  is  valuable  only  in  proportion  to 
the  amount  of  plant  food  it  contains.  You  should  be 
guided  in  buying  factory-mixed  goods  by  the  guaranteed 
analysis,  and  not  by  any  particular  name  or  brand.  Nor 
is  the  special  brand  any  better.  There  is  no  merit  in  a 
special  crop  fertilizer  for  any  and  every  kind  of  soil.  It 
is  absurd  to  believe  it  to  be  so.  The  name  is  worth 
nothing. 


USING    CHEMICAL    MANURES     INTELLIGENTLY          24! 

Computing  the  value. — In  a  commercial  way,  nitrogen 
is  about  three  times  as  costly  as  phosphorus  or  potassium. 
The  cost  of  the  fertilizing  element  varies  from  year  to 


NITRATE 
OF  SODA 

^ 
\ 

A 

^ 

ae^-        n    '  ^ 

ACID 
PHOSPHATE 

un^punRni  i<v 

"1 

AN  5-2-2 
FERTILIZER    ' 

KAINIT 

PflT  A  Q<^ll  IV 

PHOSPHOROUS  | 

Klll-onfteW  * 

NHrvUbLN    ; 

W__        —  === 

CFtTtAlsIMM^ 

I'LANT    FOOD    I.V    A    HAG   OK    KERT1LI/.ER 

SVhen  buyingf  fertilizers  do  not  make  the  mistake  of  supposing  all  of  it  is  plant 
food.  As  indicated  above,  just  u  small  part  is  of  any  value  to  plants.  The 
greater  part  is  dirt  or  material  of  no  use  to  plants 


year,  but,  as  a  rule,  nitrogen  is  worth  fifteen  cents  per 
pound  and  phosphorus  and  potassium  each  five  cents  per 
pound.  In  computing  relative  values,  bear  in  mind  that 
one  per  cent,  means  one  pound  in  a  hundred  or  twenty 
pounds  in  a  ton. 

It  is  also  a  good  plan  in  computing  the  value  of  a  fer- 
tilizer to  use  the  lowest  figure  representing  the  percent- 
age, since  that  more  nearly  represents  the  true  value. 
Sliding  figures  are  used  more  to  deceive  the  purchaser 
than  to  help  him  or  to  give  him  a  larger  quantity  at  the 
cost  of  a  smaller  amount. 

In  order  to  show  the  process  of  computing  the  value  of 
a  fertilizer,  let  us  take  a  problem  for  the  purpose  of  find- 
ing the  plant-food  value  of  a  ton  of  fertilizer.  Here  is  the 
problem : 

What  is  the  money  value  of  the  plant  food  in  a  fertilizer 
containing  1.95  per  cent,  of  ammonia.  7  to  8  per  cent,  of 


242  SOILS 

phosphoric  acid,  and  from  2  to  2.75  per  cent,  of  potash — 
the  commercial  value  being  $30  per  ton? 

Process :  First,  reduce  the  ammonia  to  nitrogen,  since 
it  is  the  real  element  of  plant  food.  Ammonia  sounds 
larger  and  hence  is  used  in  the  fertilizer  formulae.  Re- 
member that  ammonia  is  not  nitrogen.  It  is  only  four- 
teen-seventeenths  nitrogen,  the  other  three-seventeenths 
being  hydrogen,  which  has  no  value  whatever  as  a  fer- 
tilizer. 

So,  to  get  the  real  amount  of  nitrogen  in  the  ammonia 
we  shall  have  to  divide  the  ammonia  percentage  by  1.214, 
so  as  to  get  the  percentage  of  nitrogen. 

Just  do  it  this  way:  1.95  -r-  1.214=  1.60:  the  nitrogen 
percentage.  We  will  then  multiply  each  of  the  several 
percentages  (use  only  the  smallest  figures)  by  20,  so  as 
to  obtain  the  number  of  pounds  in  a  ton,  and  then  multi- 
ply this  product  by  the  value  per  pound,  and  we  have  the 
value  on  the  basis  of  a  ton. 

The  following  shows  the  process : 

Nitrogen  1.60X20  =  32  Ibs.  at  15  cents  =  $4.80 
Phosphorus  7X20=140  Ibs.  at  5  cents  =  7.00 
Potassium  2X20  =  40  Ibs.  at  5.4  cents  =  2.16 


Value  of  plant  food  in  a  ton  $13.96 

So  here  is  all  there  is  to  this  estimate.  When  several 
fertilizers  are  available,  just  make  the  calculation  in  this 
way  and  you  can  then  determine  in  which  fertilizer  you 
get  the  largest  quantity  of  plant  food  for  the  least  money. 
For  the  purpose  of  comparison,  we  will  take  another 
fertilizer  that  sells  for  $29  per  ton,  just  one  dollar  less : 
its  analysis  is :  nitrogen,  2  per  cent.,  phosphoric  acid, 
9  per  cent.,  potash,  2  per  cent. 

With  a  first  glance  the  average  farmer  might  think  the 
first  fertilizer,  since  it  sells  for  a  dollar  a  ton  more,  is 


USING    CHEMICAL    MANURES     INTELLIGENTLY          243 

therefore  a  better  fertilizer,  but  let  us  see,  calculating  as 
we  did  before : 

Nitrogen  2X20  =  40  Ibs.  at  15  cents  =  $6.00 
Phosphorus  9X20—180  Ibs.  at  5  cents  =  9.00 
Potassium  2X20  =  40  Ibs.  at  5.4  cents  =  2.16 


Value  of  plant  food  in  a  ton 


$17.16 


Now  you  have  your  comparison :  If  you  take  the  first 
fertilizer,  you  get  in  each  ton  $13.96  worth  of  plant  food, 
which  costs  you  $30;  if, 
on  the  other  hand,  you 
purchase  the  second,  you 
get  $17.16  worth  of  plant 
food  for  $29.  The  differ- 
ence between  the  value  of 
the  plant  food  and  the  sell- 
ing price  is  due  to  the  cost 
of  manufacture,  profits, 
agents'  commission,  etc. 
In  the  case  of  the  first  this 
difference  is  $16.04,  while 
in  the  second  it  is  but 
$11.84;  a  clear  saving  of 
$4.20  on  each  ton,  and  the 
latter  is  equal  to  the  for- 
mer in  every  sense  of  the 
word. 

Analysis    on    bags    and 


MOISTURE JO  to  15* 

AMMONIA 2toZ25*  \ 

AVAILABLE  PHOS  AGO 8to9% 

EQUIVALENT  TO  BONE  PHOSPHATE 

OF  UME 20.74toa4.OI*  5 

INSOLUBLE  PHOS.ACJO L25to2.%j 

TOTAL  PHOS.ACK) 9.25  toll* j 

POTASH Ij62to2.l6%j 

EQUIVALENT  TO  SULPHATEJtBOfol3.72i 


THE  REAL  MEANING 


PHOSPHOROUS Z.%. 


NITROGEN. 


sacks.  --In  purchasing  a    THE  BAG  AND  THE  PLANT  FOOD  IN  IT 
fertilizer  make  it  a  point  to 

interpret  as  correctly  as  you  can  the  statements  and 
figures  that  go  with  the  fertilizer,  for  unless  you  do  this 
you  may  be  deceived.  Just  bear  in  mind  all  the  time  that 


244  SOILS 

it  is  available  nitrogen,  phosphorus,  and  potassium  that 
you  are  after,  and  not  high-sounding  names  or  spread-on 
analyses. 
The  following  is  an  example  of  such : 

Moisture    10  to  15.00 

Ammonia  2  to     2 . 25 

Available  phosphoric  acid 8  to    9.00 

Equivalent  to  bone  phosphate  of  lime 20.74  to  24.01 

Insoluble  phosphoric  acid 1.25  to    2.00 

Total    phosphoric    acid 9.25  to  n  oo 

Potash  1.62  to    2. 16 

Equivalent  to  sulphate 11.80  to  13.72 

When  this  statement  is  reduced  to  its  true  meaning,  it 
reads  as  follows : 

Nitrogen 1 .64 

Phosphoric  acid 8.00 

Potash i .  62 

And  now  another  important  truth  in  the  purchase  of 
fertilizers :  Pay  no  attention  to  anything  printed  on  the 
bag  or  tag,  except  to  the  nitrogen,  to  the  available  or  solu- 
ble phosphoric  acid,  and  to  the  potash,  and  then  use  only 
the  lowest  percentage  as  given  for  each  element.  Do  this 
and  you  will  have  a  clear  and  correct  statement  of  the  real 
value. 

Now,  if  you  use  fertilizers,  just  bear  this  in  mind: 
chemical  fertilizers  will  not  take  the  place  of  humus, 
stable  manure,  and  the  legumes.  You  will  use  them 
properly  only  when  you  consider  them  as  supplementary 
helps  in  the  fertilization  of  your  lands.  The  quicker  you 
realize  that  prescribed  formulae  are  only  general  and  that 
you  must  use  such  as  guides  rather  than  as  specifics,  you 
will  the  quicker  profit  in  using  chemical  manures.  If  you 


USING    CHEMICAL    MANURES     INTELLIGENTLY          245 

think  your  soil  is  deficient  in  some  element  of  plant  food, 
make  a  test  on  your  own  farm  in  your  own  field.  Ask  the 
plant.  Just  as  you  must  feed  and  test  your  own  feeding 
stuffs,  using  real,  live  animals  for  the  purpose,  so  you 
must  test  your  own  soil  and  consult  with  the  plants  in 
your  own  field. 


CHAPTER  XXVI 
MIXING  FERTILIZERS  AT  HOME 

Home-mixing  of  fertilizers  now  is  a  much  discussed 
question.  So  much  good  sense  is  in  the  proposition,  so 
closely  is  it  allied  with  savings  and  profits,  so  reasonable, 
too,  is  the  preliminary  cost — no  farmer  can  afford  to 
ignore  a  careful  study  of  the  simple  principles  upon 
which  it  is  based. 

A  few  farmers  have  adopted  the  plan  of  purchasing  un- 
mixed ingredients  and  of  mixing  them  at  home.  They 
have  been  doing  this  a  long  time.  They  like  the  plan. 
They  find  it  pays.  But  you  need  to  give  some  study, 
some  care,  and  some  knowledge  to  the  work  of  home- 
mixing,  if  you  would  get  the  best  results. 

The  fact  that  all  standard  fertilizing  materials  may  be 
purchased  readily,  and  mixed  together,  producing  a  fer- 
tilizer equal  in  worth  to  a  similar  factory-mixed  brand 
that  sells  for  from  $5  to  $15  a  ton  more  than  the  home- 
mixed  fertilizer,  suggests  the  wisdom  of  this  home-mixing 
plan. 

Poor  mixing:  the  chief  disadvantage. — The  chief  ob- 
jection to  home-mixing  of  fertilizers  is  poor  mixing. 
Knowledge  of  this  fact  has  led  the  agent  of  factory-mixed 
goods  to  advance  strong  arguments  in  favor  of  his  prod- 
uct, as  against  the  farmer  doing  the  work  himself. 

I  admit  that  the  factory  is  peculiarly  prepared  to  mix 
fertilizing  materials  in  the  best  way,  but  there  is  no  rea- 
son why  the  farmer  should  not  do  the  work  equally  as 
well.  I  will  admit  that  many  farmers  do  mix  their  ma- 
terials poorly,  but  that  is  not  a  sound  objection  to  the 


248  SOILS 

principle.  Maybe  the  same  farmers  prepare  their  soils 
with  little  care;  they  may  plow  poorly.  But  shall  you 
condemn  the  plowing  idea  because  it  is  not  done  in  all 
cases,  in  the  best  manner,  and  according  to  the  best  in- 
formation and  knowledge? 

The  objection,  then,  is  only  apparent:  it  is  not  real. 
The  business-like  farmer  will  employ  home-mixing  be- 
cause it  is  a  saving  to  him ;  because  he  can  make  ten  to 
twenty-five  dollars  for  each  day  he  gives  to  this  work ; 
and  because  he  can  get  a  better  fertilizer. 

Home-mixing  means  definite  knowledge. — When  the 
different  materials  are  purchased  and  mixed  at  home  the 
farmer  can  know,  with  more  certainty,  just  what  he  is 
adding  to  his  soil.  When  mixed  goods  are  used,  it  is  not 
easy  to  detect  inferior  articles.  The  chances  are  the 
farmer  will  get  better  materials  in  home-mixed  goods 
than  in  factory-mixed  goods. 

By  careful  observation  and  experiment  the  farmer  can 
compound  his  mixture  in  a  way  to  adapt  it  more  nearly  to 
the  needs  of  his  crops  and  soils.  Manufacturers  claim  to 
manufacture  goods  that  are  of  especial  value  to  some 
special  crop,  but  this  is  not  true,  although  it  ought  to  be 
true.  This  is  because  the  manufacturer  is  unacquainted 
with  the  needs  of  the  soil,  and  he  knows  nothing  about 
the  system  of  farming  that  has  been  or  now  is  being  fol- 
lowed. Consequently,  the  composition  of  the  crop  (and 
the  manufacturer  largely  takes  it  into  account)  is  not  a 
dominant  factor  for  consideration  in  compounding  fertil- 
izers. 

Here  is  a  case :  Two  farmers  on  adjoining  farms  grow 
wheat.  It  is  a  money  crop  with  both.  Their  soils  may  be 
quite  similar  in  formation  ;  both  farms  may  be  drained 
equally  well ;  both  farmers  use  the  same  seed,  but  one 
feeds  many  cattle  and  makes  much  manure  for  his  land 


MIXING  FERTILIZERS   AT    HOME  249 

and  he  is  a  legume  farmer  also.  The  other  farmer  neither 
feeds  stock  nor  grows  any  legume.  Now,  do  you  think  it 
good  sense  to  use  the  same  wheat  fertilizer  for  both  farms  ? 
On  one  farm  there  is  nitrogen  enough,  but  on  the  other  it 
may  be  lacking  and  greatly  in  demand  by  every  crop 
seeded  there.  For  let  us  remember  that  where  stable 
manure  is  made  and  preserved  in  a  proper  way,  and  where 
legumes  are  grown  as  they  ought  to  be,  then  there  is  no 
need  of  nitrogen  being  applied  to  the  soil,  although  the 
crop  may  be  exhaustive  in  character  and  may  come  fre- 
quently in  rotation. 

On  the  other  hand,  phosphorus  and  potassium  may  be 
lacking  in  the  soil.  Grain  crops  may  have  depleted  your 
lands  of  one  or  both  of  these  elements.  The  supply  may 
never  have  been  large.  We  have  soil  types  on  record 
that  show  a  lack  of  phosphorus,  and  we  have  others  that 
show  a  lack  of  potassium.  A  crop  of  legumes  seemingly 
may  increase  the  quantity  of  either  in  the  top  soil,  but 
these  elements  both  have  been  got  from  the  subsoil ;  and 
later,  when  plowed  under,  the  phosphorus  and  potassium 
stores  may  be  larger,  but  the  increase  has  come  from  the 
subsoil. 

In  these  cases,  there  has  simply  been  a  transfer  from 
the  farm  beneath  to  the  farm  above :  there  has  been  no 
real  addition  of  plant  food  to  the  soil.  Consequently,  if 
lands  are  deficient  in  cither  phosphorus  or  potassium,  the 
deficiency  must  be  made  good  in  some  outside  way:  by 
manures  or  commercial  fertili/er,  or  by  using  such  ma- 
terial or  materials  that  is  needed  as  a  reen  force  men  t  of  the 
present  stores. 

Test  your  lands. — Your  first  question  naturally  is: 
What  element,  or  elements,  is  lacking  in  my  soil?  The 
only  way  by  which  a  real  scientific  answer  can  come  is  by 
means  of  an  experiment  made  by  you  on  your  own  farm, 


250 


SOILS 


and  in  every  field  for  your  leading  money-crop  or  crops. 
It  is  necessary,  then,  for  you  to  make  a  test  that  you  may 
know  what  is  demanded  in  way  of  an  artificial  manure 
for  your  soil. 

Suppose  you  try  this  plan :  Lay  off  six  plots — each  plot 
to  be  one  rod  wide  and  eight  rods  long — one-twentieth  of 
an  acre  in  area.  In  the  field  your  experiment  would  show 
a  sctieme  like  this : 


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Apply  the  fertilizers  broadcast  and  harrow  in  length- 
wise that  no  part  of  them  may  be  dragged  over  onto  an- 
other plot.  I  find  it  advisable  to  mix  fertilizers  with  dry 
dirt  when  small  quantities  are  used  that  a  more  even  dis- 
tribution may  be  secured. 

If  such  a  test  is  made  with  corn,  be  careful  to  treat  all 
plots  alike  in  cultivation,  and  this  cultivation  should  be 
similar  in  nature  to  that  given  the  remainder  of  the  field. 
A  careful  observation  of  plots  during  the  growing  season, 
coupled  with  an  estimate  at  harvest,  should  enable  you 
to  use  fertilizers  with  some  knowledge  of  their  value,  if 
such  is  shown  by  the  test.  The  results  cannot  fail  to  be 
helpful  in  deciding  what  kinds  of  plant  food  your  land 
needs,  and  in  what  quantity  each  element  is  needed. 

The  quantity  you  shall  use. — No  hard  and  fixed  rule 
can  be  given  as  to  the  quantity  of  the  fertilizer  you  shall 


MIXING   FERTILIZERS   AT    HOME 


251 


use.  That  depends  upon  several  things,  such  as :  inher- 
ent richness  of  the  land ;  thoroughness  of  tillage  and 
preparation  ;  nature  of  the  crop  (is  it  a  legume  or  not)  ; 
richness  of  the  fertilizer;  and  nature  of  climate  and 
season.  If  you  are  a  careful  observer,  your  judgment  will 
help  you  very  much  in  settling  this  difficulty. 

Just  remember  that  the  only  way  to  know  the  soil  well 
is  to  study  it  well ;  you  must  watch  it  and  experiment 
with  it.  And  so,  in  feeding  it  with  artificial  manures,  you 
must  consider  all  these  points  if  you  would  know  just  how 


NITROGEN 
PHOSPHOROUS 
POTASSIUM 
6300   lb», 


NOTHING 
2695  IbJ, 


THE  SOIL  TELLS  ITS  OWN  STORY 

much  of  fertilizers  per  acre  you  shall  apply.  Rut  you  had 
better  do  some  testing  work.  \\  ith  corn,  for  instance,  you 
can  apply,  on  two  rows,  two  hundred  pounds  of  the  fertil- 
izer per  acre;  on  the  next  two  rows,  four  hundred;  on 
the  next  two  rows,  six  hundred;  on  the  next  two  rows, 
eight  hundred  ;  and  on  the  next  two  rows,  one  thousand 
pounds  per  acre.  Every  sort  of  cultivated  crop,  including 
corn,  cotton,  potatoes,  and  tobacco,  may  be  subjected  to 
such  treatment,  and  the  soil  will  reveal  the  secret  it 
holds — if  one  is  there. 

When  and  how  to  mix. — I  like  the  winter  season  best 
for  mixing  fertilizers:  it  gives  one  plenty  of  time  to  get 
his  materials  together;  labor  is  available,  and  you  can 


252  SOILS 

do  the  work  well  before  the  rush  and  hurry  of  plowing 
and  planting.  When  you  consider  the  fact  that  you  are 
receiving  extremely  good  wages  for  mixing  fertilizers, 
you  ought  to  give  good  service  to  this  important  piece  of 
farm  work.  You  will  find  a  tight-barn  floor  an  excellent 
place  for  the  mixing,  and  the  work  will  interfere  in  no 
way  with  feeding  and  other  barn  work. 

Some  people  prefer  a  wagon  box  for  this  purpose,  and 
it  is  just  as  good :  you  have  only  to  take  your  choice. 

In  mixing  the  different  materials,  spread  them  over  the 
floor  to  a  depth  of  five  to  ten  inches,  putting  the  bulkiest 
fertilizer  first.  On  top  of  this  spread  layers  of  the  re- 
maining materials ;  then  mix  thoroughly,  shoveling  the 
entire  pile  over  several  times.  When  a  great  many  tons 
are  to  be  mixed,  this  operation  will  need  to  be  repeated 
often,  and  the  materials  bagged  as  mixed.  You  may  find 
some  of  the  unmixed  materials  hard  and  lumpy  in  the 
sacks;  if  so,  just  put  them  in  a  separate  pile  and  break 
up  finely  with  maul  or  shovel.  You  will  then  have  no 
trouble  in  handling  in  the  way  indicated  above. 

Some  fertilizer  problems. — Fertilizing  materials  may  be 
used  singly  or  in  combination  with  others.  A  great  num- 
ber of  combinations  can  be  made  to  suit  all  sorts  of  soils 
and  every  kind  of  crop,  by  using  a  few  or  many  of  the 
fertilizing  materials.  To  clearly  understand  these  fertil- 
izing problems,  let  us  take  them  up  one  after  another. 

Here  is  the  first  problem :  Suppose  a  ton  of  home- 
mixed  fertilizer  is  made  of  1,200  pounds  of  acid  phos- 
phate, 400  pounds  of  cotton-seed  meal,  and  400  pounds  of 
kainit.  What  will  be  the  quantity  of  nitrogen,  phos- 
phorus, and  potassium  in  a  ton? 

Process :  First,  we  must  know  the  composition.  In 
nearly  every  State  the  law  requires  the  correct  analysis  to 
be  printed  or  stamped  on  the  bag  in  which  the  material  is 


MIXING   FERTILIZERS   AT    HOME 


253 


shipped.  Consequently,  if  you  know  how  to  interpret 
these  figures,  you  will  have  no  difficult}'  in  making  your 
calculations.  Now  we  find  (you  can  consult  any  book  of 
reference  for  the  composition  if  not  given  on  the  bag) 
acid  phosphate  contains  fourteen  per  cent,  phosphoric 
acid,  cotton-seed  meal  seven  per  cent,  nitrogen,  two  and 
one-half  per  cent,  phosphoric  acid  and  one  and  five-tenths 
per  cent,  potash,  and  kainit  twelve  and  one-half  per  cent, 
potash  :  hence  we  get — 

Acid  Phosphate — 

1200X0.14  =  168  pounds  of  phosphoric  acid. 
Cotton-Seed  Meal — 

400  X  0.07    =  28  pounds  nitrogen. 

400  X  0.025  =  10  pounds  phosphoric  acid. 

400  X  0.015  =   6  pounds  potash. 
Kainit — 

400X0.125  =  50  pounds  potash. 

We  get  now — 


Material 

Fertilizing  Element 

Phosphoric 
Acid 

Nitrogen 

Potash 

Acid 

CotU 
Kain 

phosphate  

168. 

10. 

oo. 

00. 

28. 

0. 

6. 

SO. 

>n  seed  meal  

t  

Totals        

178. 

. 

56. 

PROBLEM  II:  In  a  ton  of  fcrtili/.er  mixed  in  this 
way  what  is  the  percentage  of  each  element  of  plant  food? 

Process:  To  find  this  percentage  divide  each  element 
by  the  total  amount  of  the  mixture.  The  calculation  is  as 
follows : 

Phosphoric  acid    1 78 -r  2000  =  8.y  per  cent     Phosphoric   Acid. 
Nitrogen   28  -r-  2000  =  1 .4  per   cent.  Nitrogen. 
Potash  56  -f-  2000  =  28  per  cent.  Potash. 


254  SOILS 

Working  from  percentages. — Often  the  per  cent,  of 
phosphoric  acid,  nitrogen  and  potash  suitable  to  a  crop 
is  given.  In  what  quantities  shall  given  fertilizing  ma- 
terials be  mixed  so  as  to  supply  a  fertilizer  possessing 
these  percentages? 

PROBLEM  III:  How  many  pounds  each  of  acid 
phosphate,  sulphate  of  ammonia,  and  kainit  will  be  needed 
to  make  an  8 — 3 — 3  fertilizer? 

Process  In  100  pounds.  In  one  ton 

Phosphoric  acid  8  per  cent 8  160 

Nitrogen  3  per  cent 3  60 

Potash  3  per  cent 3  60 

Acid  phosphate — 14  per  cent,  or  14  pounds  in  100.  To 
get  160  pounds  divide  160  by  .14==  1, 142-4-. 

Sulphate  of  ammonia — 20  per  cent,  or  20  pounds  in  100. 
To  get  60  pounds  divide  60  by  .20  =  300. 

Kainit — 12.5  per  cent,  or  12.5  pounds  in  100.  To  get 
60  pounds,  divide  60  by  .125  =  480. 

We  have  now: 

Acid  phosphate 1,142+  pounds 

Sulphate  of  ammonia 300      pounds 

Kainit 480      pounds 


Total 1,922      pounds 

Unfurnished 78      pounds 


2,000      pounds 

The  remaining  78  pounds  may  be  supplied  in  fine  sand, 
road  dust,  or  in  any  such  material. 

If  the  reader  considers  his  fertilizing  problems  in  a 
careful  way  as  suggested  here,  he  will  have  no  difficulty 
in  mixing  his  own  materials,  and  he  will  be  pleased  most 
certainly  with  the  results. 


CHAPTER  XXVII 

DAIRYING:   AN   EXAMPLE   IN   SOIL  BUILDING 

Dairying  is  one  of  the  most  effective  practices  in  agri- 
culture for  retaining  and  restoring  the  fertility  of  the  soil. 
A  great  array  of  facts  are  on  record  that  prove  that  soils, 
devoted  to  dairying,  may  be  as  fertile  after  centuries  of 
farming  as  they  were  in  their  original  state.  In  Euro- 
pean countries,  as  well  as  in  all  parts  of  the  United  States, 
we  find  farms  that  once  were  abandoned  because  the  soil 
fertility  was  exhausted:  it  did  not  pay  to  farm  them.  As 
a  last  resort,  dairying  was  introduced  and  the  fertility  was 
restored  completely.  Many  of  these  farms  are  even  more 
fertile  to-day  than  they  were  in  the  beginning,  and  so 
long  as  dairying  is  carried  on,  they  will  continue  to  in- 
crease in  fertility  and  productive  power. 

Grain  farming  exhausts  the  soil;  dairying  does  not. — 
In  grain  farming  the  fertility  is  removed  from  the  farm 
by  selling  the  grain.  According  to  Professor  \Yoll  of  the 
Wisconsin  Experiment  Station  approximately  $8.35 
worth  of  fertility  is  removed  from  the  soil  with  the  sale  of 
every  ton  of  wheat.  With  every  ton  of  corn  that  is  sold 
approximately  $6.50  worth  of  fertility  is  removed  from 
the  soil. 

P>ut  in  the  case  of  dairying — where  butter  is  made  on 
the  farm  and  where  all  the  by-products  are  fed  to  pigs 
and  calves — we  find  that  only  36  cents'  worth  of  fertility 
is  removed  in  each  ton  of  butter  produced.  The  commer- 
cial value  of  a  ton  of  wheat  at  75  cents  per  bushel  is  ap- 
proximately $24.75;  but  the  commercial  value  of  a  ton 
of  butter  at  25  cents  per  pound  is  $500.  Hence,  for 


; 

i 


DAIRYING  257 

each  $100  worth  of  wheat  that  is  sold  from  the  soil 
$34.50  worth  of  fertility  is  removed  from  the  farm,  but 
for  every  $100  worth  of  butter  that  is  sold,  seven  cents' 
worth  of  fertility  only  is  removed. 

This  vast  difference  between  wheat  and  dairying  is  ex- 
plained in  this  way:  a  cow  is  fed  a  ration,  say,  of  alfalfa 
and  corn.  Both  the  alfalfa  hay  and  the  corn  have  been 
raised  on  the  farm.  When  consumed,  the  cow  has  assimi- 
lated approximately  ten  and  one-half  per  cent,  of  the 
fertilizing  elements.  The  remaining  eighty-nine  and  one- 
half  per  cent,  goes  back  to  the  soil  in  the  shape  of  manure. 
Of  the  ten  and  one-half  per  cent,  of  fertilizing  elements 
that  is  retained  by  the  cow,  about  three-fourths  go  to 
make  milk,  and  one-fourth  to  the  maintenance  of  the 
body. 

In  the  case  of  butter  made  in  the  farm.  The  milk  is 
separated :  its  analysis  shows  that  ninety  per  cent,  of  the 
fertilizing  elements  of  the  whole  milk  is  found  in  the  skim 
milk ;  hence,  cream  and  butter  remove  but  ten  per  cent, 
of  the  whole  amount.  But  the  skim  milk  is  returned  to 
the  farm  and  is  fed  to  pigs  and  to  calves,  which  utilize  a 
part  of  these  materials  for  building  up  the  body  :  the  un- 
used part  passes  on  to  fertilize  the  land. 

Dairying  is  a  fat-making  process. — It  may  be  said  that 
dairying  is  a  sort  of  fat-concentration  process.  That  is 
to  say,  the  resultant  product,  which  is  butter  fat,  is  dis- 
tilled from  corn  and  alfalfa  hay  (and  from  all  other  ma- 
terials used  as  food)  through  the  agency  of  the  dairy  cow, 
the  cream  separator,  and  the  churn— by  means  of  which 
the  distilling  process  is  carried  on. 

Butter  fat,  from  a  chemical  standpoint,  is  a  concen- 
trated form  of  heat.  The  heat  comes  from  the  sun.  in  the 
first  place.  It  is  then  taken  up  by  growing  plants — such 
as  enter  into  feeding  rations — and  made  into  palatable 


258  SOILS 

products  for  the  cow:  made  into  products  that  satisfy 
hunger,  and  produce  heat  and  fatty  tissue  in  the  body  of 
the  animal.  Speaking-  strictly,  this  is  one  way  by  which 
man  can  sell  concentrated  heat  for  butter  prices.  Now, 
if  the  dairyman  harvests  hay  and  grain  as  feed  and  applies 
nothing  whatever  to  the  land  to  replace  the  fertility  with- 
drawn, he  will  gradually  reduce  the  fertility  of  the  soil, 
but  the  process  of  tearing  down  will  be  slow.  In  twenty 
years  a  wheat  farm  may  be  worn  out  by  continual  crop- 
ping, but  to  wear  out  a  dairy  farm  to  an  equal  degree, 
9,720  years  will  need  to  pass.  Wheat  raising  makes  swift 
work  in  ruining  lands,  but  dairying  preserves  them. 

Dairying  remakes  the  soil. — A  great  source  of  profit  in 
dairying  lies  in  the  fact  that  it  remakes  the  soil.  When 
you  purchase  feed  for  the  cow  that  more  milk  may  be 
produced,  you  add  fertility  to  the  land.  Such  feeds  as 
linseed  meal,  cotton-seed  meal,  and  bran  are  exception- 
ally rich  in  fertilizing  elements.  It  is  not  unusual  to  pur- 
chase elements  of  fertility  more  cheaply  in  the  form  of 
feeds  than  in  the  form  of  fertilizers.  And  the  feed  is  paid 
for  by  the  milk.  The  milk  pays  also  the  labor  and  allows, 
in  every  case,  where  attention  and  care  are  given,  a  fair 
margin  of  profit.  In  this  way  the  fertility  of  the  soil  is 
restored  at  practically  no  cost. 

While  soil  building  can  be  accomplished  by  using  other 
classes  of  animals,  it  is,  however,  a  fact  that  the  dairy  cow 
produces  more  real  fertility  than  any  other  farm  animal. 
A  cow  weighing  from  twelve  to  thirteen  hundred  pounds, 
if  fed  to  produce  milk,  during  the  year  produces  about 
twenty-eight  hundred  pounds  of  manure.  Nearly  one- 
half  of  this  is  liquid  and  should  be  saved,  for  it  is  exceed- 
ingly rich  in  fertilizing  elements.  But  right  here  comes 
a  great  loss  to  the  average  farm.  The  liquid  manure  gets 
away  from  the  land,  which  would  not  be  the  case  were  it 


DAIRYING 


259 


guarded  as  its  importance  merits.  Liquid  manure  is 
even  more  valuable  than  the  solid  manure,  and  if  proper 
arrangements  are  made,  it  will  take  care  of  itself,  and  will 
not  only  fertilize  the  soil  to  which  it  should  be  passed, 
but  it  may  be  used  for  irrigating  the  land  at  the  same 
time. 

This  can  be  done  by  means  of  a  septic  tank  if  the 
gutters  in  the  stables  are  properly  constructed  so  as  to 
allow  it  to  pass  into  the  septic  tank.  When  there,  it  fer- 


A  COMPLETE  IRRIGATING  SYSTEM    WITH   DAIRY   HOUSE  AND  RESIDENCE 
ATTACHED    WITH    THE    SAME    SYSTEM    OK    THE    BARN 
Designed  by  Professor  Oscar  Erf 

ments  and  later  is  discharged  through  a  system  of  tile 
drains,  onto  the  laud,  where  it  becomes  distributed  into 
all  parts  of  the  soil.  The  solid  manure  can  now  be  hauled 
onto  other  fields  with  half  the  labor  that  otherwise  would 
be  required,  and  all  the  fertilizing  constituents  in  the 
manure  can  be  completely  recovered  and  restored  to  the 
soil. 

The  loss  of  manure  ought  to  be  guarded  against  with 
zealous  care;  certainly  with  as  much  as  is  given  to  guard- 


260  SOILS 

ing  against  the  loss  of  any  other  farm  product.  For  it  must 
be  borne  in  mind  that  the  manurial  value  of  feeds  like 
bran,  after  it  has  passed  through  the  cow,  is  worth  $10.50 
per  ton ;  of  red  clover,  under  the  same  conditions,  ap- 
proximately $7.30  per  ton ;  of  linseed  meal,  $16.77  Per 
ton ;  and  of  cotton  seed  meal,  $19.70  per  ton.  This  bears 
out  the  statement  made  elsewhere,  that  the  fertilizing  ele- 
ments in  manure  are  governed  by  the  feeds  that  are  fed 


A  BALANCE  WHEEL  IN  FARMING 

A  grain  crop  makes  swift  work  in  ruining  lands,  but  the  dairy  cow  preserves 

them 

to  the  cow.    Hence,  rich  feeds  make  rich  manure :    poor 
feeds,  poor  manure  and  little  product. 

Dairying  is  behind  rich  lands. — Dairying  sets  in  motion 
the  processes  that  make  rich  lands :  that  make  plant  food 
available.  Your  land  may  contain  an  abundance  of  plant 
food,  but  it  may  be  unavailable  as  food.  Dairying  will 
set  the  strings  going:  it  will  produce  the  food  for  plants 
in  a  soluble  way  and  in  abundance.  Suppose  you  are 
served  a  cup  of  tea.  You  taste  of  it  and  find  it  is  not 
sweet;  but  you  are  told  that  sugar  has  been  added  and 
you  should  stir  the  tea:  it  now  becomes  sweet.  The 
sugar,  in  this  case,  remained  at  the  bottom  of  the  cup 


DAIRYING  26l 

and  was  not  available  until  thoroughly  stirred  and  dis- 
solved ;   until  then  there  was  little  sweetening  effect. 

So  it  is  with  soil  fertility.  Until  it  becomes  soluble  it 
is  not  food  for  plants.  Manure  has  a  disintegrating  action 
on  fertilizing  compounds:  it  sets  free  the  plant  food. 

Dairying:  a  balance  in  fertility. — An  illustration  may 
now  be  in  place  to  show  the  important  role  that  dairying 
plays  as  a  soil  builder  in  the  realm  of  agriculture.  Let  us 
assume  that  a  man  purchases  a  farm  of  one  hundred  acres 
for  which  he  pays  $100  per  acre,  the  whole  amounting 
to  $10,000.  In  this  case,  he  invests  his  money  in  soil 
fertility,  from  which  he  desires  to  draw  interest  just  as 
he  would  were  he  to  deposit  his  money  in  a  bank. 

We  will  now  assume  that  wheat  is  grown  on  the  farm : 
on  the  entire  one  hundred  acres  and  for  twenty  years, 
the  rate  of  production  being  sixteen  bushels  per  acre, 
which,  according  to  statistics,  is  a  high  average  for 
twenty  years  of  continual  cropping  on  good  soil  without 
the  addition  of  chemical  or  stable  manures.  At  eighty 
cents  per  bushel,  the  entire  production  of  wheat,  at  the 
end  of  twenty  years,  will  amount  to  $25,000. 

But  there  is  still  another  side :  with  each  ton  of  wheat 
there  goes  $8.35  worth  of  fertility  ;  with  the  entire  yield 
for  the  twenty  years  there  goes  $8,832  in  fertility — leav- 
ing $1,168  only,  out  of  the  entire  original  investment.  In- 
stead of  simply  drawing  interest  on  the  capital  invested, 
there  has  been  drawn  nearly  the  entire  capital.  On 
the  face  of  the  purchase  eighty-eight  per  cent,  of  the 
original  investment  has  been  withdrawn  by  twenty  years 
of  continual  cropping. 

\Ye  now  will  assume,  that  instead  of  wheat  alone,  a 
dairy  herd  of  fifteen  cows  is  maintained  in  connection 
with  wheat  farming;  that  all  the  grain  fed  to  the  cows 
is  purchased ;  and  that  the  manure  is  carefully  pre- 


262 


SOILS 


served.  It  has  been  determined  that  a  cow  produces  four- 
teen tons  of  manure  per  year;  but  since  there  is  always 
some  waste,  we  will  say  that  ten  tons  only  are  recovered, 
each  ton  of  which  is  worth  $2.95  per  ton,  as  actual  crop- 
producing  experiments  have  shown  to  be  the  case.  On 
this  basis  of  valuation,  the  fertility  from  the  fifteen  cows 
will  be  worth,  annually,  $442.50,  or  $8,850  for  a  twenty- 
year  period. 

Besides  the  value  of  the  fertility,  there  is  to  be  added 
to  the  gross  receipts  of  the  farm  $18,720,  received  from 


TWO   KINDS  OF  FARMING 

Grain  farming  forces  plant  food  from  the  soil,  but  the  dairy  cow  maintains  the 
fertility  of  the  land 


the  sale  of  butter  fat,  and  $3,600,  the  value  of  the  skim 
milk ;  and  these  have  paid  for  feed,  and  labor,  and  some 
is  left  for  profit.  If  the  manure  has  been  cared  for  and 
distributed  properly  over  the  soil,  the  fifteen  cows  in 
twenty  years  have  replaced  the  $8,850  worth  of  soil  fer- 
tility that  was  removed  from  the  soil  by  the  twenty  crops 
of  wheat.  Hence,  fifteen  cows  are  able  to  balance  the  soil 
fertility  that  is  removed  in  growing  one  hundred  acres  of 
wheat. 

Combined  with  dairying,  wheat  growing  can  be  carried 
on  indefinitely,  without  the  loss  of  fertility.  In  other 
words,  interest  and  not  capital  is  withdrawn  in  this  farm- 


DAIRYING  263 

ing  operation.  Consequently,  the  full  crop-producing 
power  is  maintained  and  an  increase  of  $18  in  plant 
food  is  added  to  the  soil.  If  twenty  cows  are  kept 
on  this  land,  the  crop-producing  power  of  the  soil  will  be 
improved  to  the  extent  of  $3,000.  Therefore,  the  farm 
daily  grows  in  value :  it  adds  quite  a  little  to  the  capital 
invested  in  the  plant. 

And  in  this  connection  a  word  about  the  saving  of  this 
dairy-made  manure  is  not  out  of  place.  For  our  illustra- 
tion means  that  every  form  of  manure  produced  on  the 


WHEAT 

CORN 

TIMOTHY 

COTTON 

MILK 

BUTTER  • 

RELATIVE  AMOUNTS  OF  PLANT  FOOD  REMOVF.D  WHEN  A  TON   OF  EACH 
PRODUCT    IS    SOLD    FROM    THE    FARM 

farm  must  be  well  preserved,  if  the  fertility  of  wheat 
lands — or  of  any  kind,  for  that  matter — is  to  be  main- 
tained. 

Waste  in  the  wash  of  manure. — At  the  Ohio  Experi- 
ment Station  this  test  was  made  and  reported  by  Director 
Thome:  manure  was  taken  directly  from  the  stable  in 
April  and  applied  to  land  about  to  be  plowed  for  corn,  the 
corn  being  followed  by  wheat  and  clover  in  rotation  with- 
out further  manuring  or  fcrtili/ing,  and  compared  with 
manure  produced  by  the  same  animals  and  applied  in  the* 
same  quantity  and  manner  and  at  the  same  time,  but 
which  had  lain  in  an  open  barnyard  through  the  winter. 


264  SOILS 

The  experiments  show  a  loss  of  twenty  per  cent,  of  the 
total  weight  of  the  manure  between  January  and  April. 
The  loss  in  effectiveness  is  indicated  by  the  fact  that  the 
ton  of  fresh  manure  produced  an  average  increase  in  the 
three  crops  of  the  rotation  to  the  value  of  $2.94,  while 
that  from  the  same  original  quantity  of  manure,  after 
lying  four  or  five  months  in  the  barnyard,  amounted  to 
but  $1.70,  a  loss  of  more  than  forty  per  cent. 

Chemical  analyses  made  in  January  and  April  show  that 
the  manure  lost  between  these  dates  was  twenty-two  per 
cent,  of  its  total  phosphorus,  nearly  fifty  per  cent,  of  its 
total  potassium,  and  more  than  forty  per  cent,  of  its  total 
nitrogen ;  but  when  the  water  soluble  constituents  are  de- 
termined, it  was  found  that,  while  the  loss  of  phosphorus 
retained  practically  the  same  proportion,  that  of  potas- 
sium amounted  to  fifty-four  per  cent,  and  that  of  nitrogen 
to  seventy-three  per  cent. 

Losses  occur  at  all  times  during  the  year. — It  will  be 
observed  that  these  experiments  show  only  the  losses  that 
may  occur  in  exposed  manure  during  a  few  months  of 
the  winter,  and  it  is  probable  that  manure  does  lose  in 
value  more  rapidly  during  the  first  few  months  than  later 
on,  through  the  leaching  out  of  the  liquid,  and  of  the 
more  soluble  portions  of  the  solid  manure ;  but  these 
losses  do  not  stop  with  the  winter  season,  nor  are  they 
confined  to  leaching;  but  with  wanner  weather  fermenta- 
tion becomes  more  active,  and  fermentation  means  not 
only  the  combination  of  the  nitrogen  of  the  manure  with 
hydrogen  and  its  escape  as  ammonia  gas,  but  also  the 
conversion  of  the  ash  elements  into  more  soluble  forms, 
in  which  they  may  be  more  readily  leached  out  by  sub- 
sequent rains.  The  mere  loss  of  total  weight,  however,  is 
not  a  safe  guide  as  to  the  actual  loss  which  may  occur  in 
the  manure  heap.  In  its  fresh  condition  a  lot  of  manure 


DAIRYING  265 

with  the  usual  amount  of  bedding  will  be  about  three- 
fourths  water;  but  as  the  straw  decays  and  the  manure 
becomes  finer  its  water-holding  power  increases.  Thus, 
at  the  Ohio  Station,  a  lot  of  manure  contained  in  January 
seventy-seven  and  five-tenths  per  cent,  water  and  nine- 
teen and  six-tenths  per  cent,  organic  matter;  in  April, 
eighty-one  and  seven-tenths  per  cent,  water  and  fifteen 
and  nine-tenths  per  cent,  organic  matter;  and  in  Septem- 
ber, eighty-three  per  cent,  water  and  thirteen  and  seven- 
tenths  per  cent,  organic  matter. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII 
ROTATION  OF  CROPS 

"No  branch  of  husbandry  requires  more  sagacity  and 
skill  than  a  proper  rotation  of  crops,  so  as  to  keep  the 
ground  always  in  heart,  and  yet  to  draw  from  it  the 
greatest  possible  profit" :  so  wrote  Lord  Kames  a  great 


CROP  ROTATION 
The  wisest  plan  for  the  maintenance  of  fertility 

many  years  ago.  And  with  every  form  of  scientific  in- 
vestigation, with  all  improvements  in  agriculture — im- 
proved soils,  better  bred  plants,  more  perfected  tools  of 
tillage,  cultivation,  and  harvesting — there  has  come  into 
use  no  method  that  contributes  quite  so  much  as  a  wise, 
well-systematized  scheme  of  crop  rotation  to  the  mainte- 


ROTATION    OF    CROPS 


267 


AN    EXAMPLE  OF   CROP   ROTATION.      CORN    IN    THE  GROWING    STAGE 

In  the  upper  picture  only  corn  has  been  grown  while  in  the  bottom  clover  has 
been  grown  also 


268 


SOILS 


AN   EXAMPLE  OF   CROP   ROTATION   AT    HARVEST   TIME 

The  upper  picture  shows  the  result  when  corn  only  was  grown  for  28  years. 
The  lower  picture  shows  the  result  when  corn  and  clover  were  rotated  for 
28  years 


ROTATION    OF    CROPS  269 

nance  of  fertility  and  to  the  production  of  maximum  and 
profitable  crops. 

It  is  Nature's  plan :  she  favors  giving  crops  fresh  lands 
to  grow  in.  Note  the  forest:  when  trees  are  cut,  new  and 
different  kinds  grow  in  place  of  those  removed.  Note  the 
grass :  timothy  and  clover  may  grow  abundantly,  but  in 
the  end  Bermuda  (in  the  South)  and  blue  grass  drive  both 
away.  Note  the  cultivated  crop :  corn  does  better  after 
clover  or  alfalfa,  wheat  after  corn  or  potatoes,  cotton  after 
cow  peas  or  grass,  than  either  crop  after  its  own  kind. 

A  soil  is  severely  injured  when  a  cultivated  crop  like 
corn  or  cotton  is  grown  on  it  year  after  year.  Even  wheat 
or  oats,  timothy  or  cow  peas  (when  cultivated)  bring 
about  the  same  ill-effect.  The  humus  is  burned  out,  the 
soil  hardens  and  deadens,  the  elements  of  plant  food, 
especially  needed  for  these  special  crops,  become  scant. 
Hence,  the  soil  loses  its  power  to  successfully  produce 
the  constant  crop.  You  can  correct  this  trouble,  to  a  great 
extent,  by  a  change  of  crops. 

A  few  principles  that  enter  into  the  scheme  of  crop 
succession  are : 

Plants  place  their  roots  differently  in  the  soil. 

All  plants  exhaust  the  soil. 

Plants  do  not  exhaust  the  soil  in  the  same  manner. 

All  plants  do  not  exhaust  the  soil  equally. 

Some  plants  add  nitrogen  to  the  soil. 

Some  plants  act  favorably  to  weed  growth  while  others 
do  not. 

Plants,  grown  constantly  on  the  same  land,  favor  the 
spread  of  insects  and  diseases. 

Feeding  habits  of  the  crop. —  It  is  well  to  pay  attention 
to  the  feeding  habits  of  a  crop.  The  shallow  feeder  ought 
not  to  follow  a  crop  having  a  similar  nature  :  it  ought  to 
follow  a  crop  whose  roots  penetrate  deeply  into  the 


270 


SOILS 


ground.  Thus  corn,  a  relatively  shallow  feeder,  should 
follow  clover,  a  deep  penetrator,  or  some  crop  like  it  that 
sends  its  roots  down  deep  into  the  soil.  This  plan  gives 
the  deep  grower  an  opportunity  to  strike  deeply  into  the 
soil :  to  open  the  tightly  bound  subsoil,  that  air  and  water 
may  get  in  to  release  plant  food  and  to  hand  it  over  to 
succeeding  crops.  For  this  reason  land 
seeded  to  a  crop  like  clover  makes  fine 
wheat,  corn  or  cotton  the  next  season. 

Study  the  feeding  habits  of  plants, 
then.  Study  their  roots :  learn  where 
they  grow,  how  deep  they  go.  Do  they 
plunge  deep  into  the  soil?  or  do  they 
skim  along  in  the  surface  layer  near  to 
air  and  light?  Ask  these  questions  and 
investigate.  The  knowledge  is  practical ; 
it  is  light  upon  a  basic  principle  of  suc- 
cessful farming;  and  in  the  future  the 
root  systems  of  cultivated  crops  will  get 
more  attention  and  study  than  the  past 
has  allotted  to  them. 

Plants  vary  as  to  taste. — There  is  a 
wide  range  in  kinds  of  foods  that  plants 
fancy.  For  instance,  the  potato  relishes 
potassium  in  abundance ;  corn  and  wheat 
do  best  when  a  great  deal  of  nitrogen  is 
in  the  soil ;  all  grain  crops  must  have 
much  phosphorus  and  potassium  to  make 
well-filled  heads.  So  crop  rotation  enables  each  crop  to 
find  its  favorite  dish.  All  of  the  legumes  get  their  nitro- 
gen from  the  air;  they  also  send  their  roots  down  into  the 
subsoil,  where  the  mineral  elements  are,  and  these  the 
roots  gather  up  and  bring  nearer  to  the  top.  The  crops 
then  are  harvested  just  in  time  for  other  crops;  for  in- 


COW-PEA 
ROOTS 

They  secure  ni- 
trogen, and 
at  the  same 
time  subsoil 
the  land 


ROTATION    OF    CROPS  27! 

stance,  wheat  if  in  the  fall  and  corn  if  in  the  spring. 
Every  crop  that  follows  a  legume  likes  the  nitrogen  that 
has  been  stored  in  the  soil  by  it.  It  likes,  too,  the  stubble 
and  roots  that  were  plowed  under  for  the  humus  and  for 
food  they  provide.  It  matters  not  the  kind  of  crop :  it  is 
benefited  by  the  legume,  for  little  nitrogen  was  used  and 
the  roots  fed  and  grew  in  a  different  layer  of  the  soil  than 
their  predecessors.  If  corn  or  wheat  is  sown,  some  other 
crop  can  follow  it;  it  can  be  the  same  or  a  different 
legume  again,  or  it  can  be  cotton  (if  in  the  cotton  belt)  or 
oats  or  alfalfa  or  potatoes:  just  whatever  fits  best  into 
the  scheme  or  what  is  most  needed  for  your  style  of 
farming. 

When  you  give  consideration  to  each  crop  in  this  way, 
you  help  both  the  crop  and  yourself;  you  help  the  crop 
by  allowing  it  the  kind  of  food  it  likes  best;  you  help 
yourself  by  getting  more  profit  from  the  better  yield 
secured.  And  this  is  good  farming:  to  study  your  crop 
and  to  get  its  confidence. 

All  plants  exhaust  the  soil. — Since  plants  exhaust  the 
soil,  it  is  evident  that  continuous  cropping  with  no  com- 
mensurate returns  leads  to  a  depleted  condition  of  the 
soil.  The  mineral  elements,  you  know,  come  from  the 
soil  and  from  the  soil  only. 

Continuous  cropping — the  same  crop  year  after  year — 
calls  for  certain  elements  constantly :  but  it  is  a  very 
tiresome  affair.  Of  course,  if  the  supply  be  maintained, 
or  if  there  be  an  inexhaustible  supply  of  mineral  elements 
in  the  soil  that  never  lose  their  availability  and  never 
become  carried  away  by  drainage  waters,  and  never  get 
locked  into  insoluble  chemical  compounds,  and  if  humus 
(the  very  life  of  the  soil)  be  not  burned  out,  then  it  may 
not  be  necessary  to  rotate  crops. 

But  the  case  is  otherwise,  as  New  England  well  knows ; 


w    z 


ROTATION    OF    CROPS  2/3 

as  the  South  with  her  depleted  cotton  and  tobacco  lands 
testifies;  as  the  West  learns  as  the  wheat  field  moves  still 
farther  West,  depleting  the  land  as  it  goes,  finally  to 
forsake  it  and  to  leave  its  rescue  to  clover  and  dairying 
and  diversified  farming. 

And  so  it  is  throughout  the  world :  the  progress  of 
vegetation  tends  constantly  to  impoverish  the  soil,  unless 
crop  rotation  is  permitted  to  adjust  the  unhappy  condi- 
tion. Where  crop  rotation  is  practiced,  the  demand  on  a 
particular  element  is  met  with  a  less  demand  by  a  differ- 
ent crop.  For  example,  alfalfa  gets  its  nitrogen  from  the 
air,  but  feeds  heavily  on  potash :  and  corn,  coming  after 
alfalfa,  feeds  largely  on  nitrogen  which  has  been  accumu- 
lated in  the  soil  during  the  growth  of  the  alfalfa;  but  the 
potassium  which  alfalfa  largely  uses  is  less  in  demand  by 
the  corn  plant,  and  hence  there  is  a  readjustment  by  the 
rotation:  a  readjustment  such  as  Nature  can  handle 
without  denying  any  element  to  any  crop. 

All  plants  do  not  exhaust  the  soil  equally.—  And  so  we 
get  this  principle :  all  plants  do  exhaust  the  soil,  but  they 
do  not  do  it  equally.  Thus  some  plants  get  their  nitrogen 
from  the  soil  only,  others  get  it  from  the  air.  Some  plants, 
like  potatoes,  use  a  great  deal  of  potassium ;  and  others, 
like  corn,  a  less  amount.  Our  grain  crops  use  a  great  deal 
of  phosphorus,  a  great  deal  more  than  the  potatoes  or  the 
legumes.  And  so  all  along  the  line.  While  this  range  is 
not  so  great  as  one  might  think,  still,  it  is  sufficiently  large 
to  make  one-crop  farming  a  barbarous  treatment  to  the 
land. 

In  this  connection  it  should  be  said  that  a  wisely- 
planned  crop  rotation  includes  a  legume  somewhere  in  the 
scheme,  that  the  nitrogen  supply  may  be  maintained  with 
no  shortage  at  all. 

Take  the  practice  that  is  getting  into  favor  so  generally  : 


274  SOILS 

the  planting  of  cow  peas  at  the  last  cultivation  of  corn. 
At  such  a  time  and  in  such  a  place  in  the  rotation  peas 
can  be  planted  without  additional  expense  in  labor  or 
team  employment ;  the  peas  grow  abundantly,  make  for- 
age for  live  stock,  and  add  nitrogen  to  the  soil.  When 
matured,  the  peas  may  be  gathered  for  seed  or  feed  or 
they  may  be  left  on  the  land. 

In  North  Carolina  a  crop  of  corn  on  poor  land  yielded 
thirty-eight  bushels  of  shelled  corn  per  acre,  and  from 
a  planting  of  cow  peas  at  the  last  cultivation  twelve  bush- 
els of  cow  peas  were  picked,  worth,  at  current  prices, 
$1.50  per  bushel.  Besides  the  yield  of  corn,  there  was 
secured  also  a  pea  crop  worth,  at  the  lowest  figure, 
$18  per  acre.  When  the  peas  are  allowed  to  die  on 
the  land,  the  stores  of  nitrogen  that  are  put  into  the  soil 
by  growing  this  wonderful  crop  become  very  large  in  a 
very  few  years.  It  should  be  your  aim  and  your  purpose, 
therefore,  to  include  in  the  rotation  some  legume  crop  for 
the  nitrogen  it  controls. 

Rotations  are  bad  for  weeds. — Then  we  should  have  the 
help  of  some  good  rotation  for  its  effect  in  weed  exter- 
mination. Weeds  and  good  farming  never  go  together. 
Crop  rotation  is  one  of  the  best  weapons  with  which  to 
fight  weeds.  There  are  certain  crops  that  affect  certain 
weeds  differently,  and  different  tillage  tools  incidental  to 
their  culture  enter  in.  The  grain  crops  allow  certain  kinds 
of  weeds  to  flourish,  since  there  is  no  intertillage  to  keep 
them  down.  Many  rapid-growing  crops  shade  the  ground 
and  make  life  such  a  struggle  to  certain  weeds  that  they 
soon  despair  in  the  race  and  disappear. 

Elsewhere  is  stated  a  case  where  corn  was  grown,  a 
yield  of  more  than  eighty  bushels  per  acre  of  shelled  corn 
being  secured  when  weeds  were  kept  out  and  frequent  cul- 
tivation given  the  land.  An  adjoining  plot  of  corn,  where 


ROTATION    OF    CROPS  2/5 

weeds  were  permitted  to  grow  and  no  cultivation  was 
given,  gave  a  yield  of  but  seventeen  bushels  of  shelled 
corn  per  acre.  Why  this  difference?  The  old  explanation 
is:  weeds  must  be  kept  away  else  they  will  get 
water  and  plant  food  that  should  go  to  the  cultivated 
crop. 

And  now  we  are  told  that  weeds  crowd  the  root  terri- 
tory of  the  cultivated  plant,  and  that  they  produce  a  toxic 
effect  in  the  soil,  both  being  especially  distasteful  or  hate- 
ful to  the  more  refined  and  delicate  and  tender  crop.  Be 
the  cause  of  enmity  between  cultivated  crops  and  weeds 
what  it  may,  every  bit  of  evidence  points  against  any 
favor  being  shown  weeds.  The  whole  trend  of  effort  is 
toward  the  banishment  of  weeds. 

Do  plant  roots  throw  off  wastes? — A  new  theory  has 
been  advanced  within  the  last  two  or  three  years,  one 
that  claims  that  all  plants  excrete  waste  products  through 
their  roots.  According  to  it,  no  plant  should  be  grown 
on  a  soil  for  any  great  length  of  time,  else  the  plant 
excretions  will  accumulate  in  the  soil  faster  than  the  soil 
can  rid  itself  of  them.  Time  is  needed  for  making  away 
with  the  excretions  of  the  old  plant  or  crop.  When  this 
is  done,  the  soil  is  made  more  sanitary  and  more  congenial 
to  the  new  crop. 

In  this  connection,  then,  a  manure  or  fertilizer  or  other 
material  that  helps  the  soil  is  used,  not  because  it  supplies 
plant  food,  but  because  it  assists  in  renovating  the  soil  of 
waste  products  and  in  securing  a  more  sanitary  condition 
of  the  soil.  Hence,  fertilizers  and  manures  become  soil 
helpers  by  renovating  and  removing  the  excreta  of  the 
previously  grown  crop. 

Now,  it  does  not  make  much  difference  in  just  what 
direction  you  must  go  for  the  true  explanation  of  poor 
soils;  but  whether  you  take  one  or  the  other,  you  find 


276  SOILS 

good  soils  closely  linked  with  good  rotations  and  poor 
soils  with  poor  rotations  or  a  single  crop. 

Getting  rid  of  insects  and  diseases. — Still  another 
reason  for  crop  rotation  is  to  keep  the  land  rid  of  insects 
and  diseases.  Grow  a  crop  year  after  year  on  the  same 
land  and  you  allow  insects  and  diseases  to  accumulate  and 
spread.  Rotate  crops,  on  the  other  hand,  and  insect  or 
disease  gains  little  headway,  or  disappears  altogether. 

The  right  treatment  of  disease  and  of  insect  lies  in  a 
close  crop  rotation.  Follow  it  and  neither  fungus  nor  in- 
sect can  destroy  your  crop;  follow  it  and  your  reward 
will  be  found  in  a  plenteous  harvest. 

Rotations  may  vary  with  different  fields. — You  may  be 
able  to  plan  a  rotation  that  will  serve  for  all  of  your 
fields ;  many  farmers  are  able  to  do  so.  Still,  such  prac- 
tice is  not  essential,  and  it  may  be  wiser  to  adopt  many 
rotations — one  for  each  type  of  land.  If  you  have  hill  land 
as  a  part  of  your  farm,  get  a  rotation  that  suits  such 
land ;  get  another  rotation  that  suits  your  bottom  land. 
Make  your  rotations  bend  to  the  needs  of  your  land  and 
to  your  returns  rather  than  allow  either  to  bend  to  the 
rotation  that  may  be  fast  bound,  provincial  and  stupid 
when  applied  to  your  entire  holdings.  I  know  a  field  that 
has  been  given  to  a  short  rotation  in  which  corn  is  grown 
every  other  year,  and  this  field  is  more  productive  than 
it  was  fifty  years  ago.  Clover  and  manure  have  been  the 
treatment  needed  for  the  work.  Yet  it  has  been  shown 
by  actual  field  practice  on  the  same  farm  that  a  different 
rotation,  although  clover  and  manure  are  both  used,  is 
necessary  for  other  fields. 

And  so  it  goes.  You  may  like  a  certain  field  for  pasture 
because  of  water,  shade  or  other  advantage ;  and  if  so,  get 
a  rotation  that  admits  a  long  pasture  period  and  short 
periods  for  corn  or  wheat  or  cotton  or  clover  or  other 


ROTATION    OF    CROPS 


277 


crop.  If  you  have  a  field  especially  adapted  to  your 
money  crop,  use  the  field  for  the  purpose,  but  adjust  it  to 
a  rotation  that  maintains  the  fertility  —  that  even 
increases  it. 

In  the  rotation  when  to  apply  barnyard  manure. — Some 
prefer  barnyard  manure  for  the  leading  money  crop,  and 
that  is  good  practice.  But  other  things  may  enter  into 
the  problem.  Where  much  barnyard  manure  is  made, 
and  where  a  pasture  or  grass  crop  precedes  some  money 
crop,  like  corn  or  cotton,  it  is  well  to  apply  manure  to 


CROP  ROTATION  AND  MIXED  FARMING  GO  HAND  IN   HAND 


the  pasture  land,  spreading  as  made  and  applied.  This 
is  the  easiest  way  of  handling  the  manure  also.  Every 
season  of  the  year  finds  the  pasture  ready,  and  not  only 
is  the  pasture  improved,  but  the  money  crop  following  it 
gets  its  full  value  just  the  same. 

A  good  many  years  ago  Yeddes  wrote :  "A  pasture 
treated  in  winter  to  raw,  un fermented  manure  will  be  so 
strong  in  grass,  and  the  soil  will  become  so  rich,  that, 
whether  plowed  the  following  spring  for  wheat  or  after 


ROTATION    OF    CROPS  279 

being  one  year  grazed  and  then  put  to  corn,  the  maximum 
yield  may  be  reasonably  expected.  This  winter  manuring 
costs  the  least  of  all  methods,  and  probably  saves  the 
most  of  the  value  of  the  manure  of  any  known  to 
me." 

Crop  rotation  and  mixed  farming  go  hand  in  hand. — 
There  are  kinds  of  farming  where  mixed  farming  is  not 
practical,  trucking  and  market  gardening  being  examples 
of  farming  systems  that  are  not  concerned  with  live  stock 
and,  hence,  with  crop  rotation  except  to  a  limited  extent 
only.  Then,  too,  there  are  sections  where  the  plow  cannot 
be  used  at  all.  And  so  these  lands  may  be  given  over  to 
trees  and  to  pasture.  But  the  greater  part  of  the  country 
is  adapted  to  the  production  of  a  great  variety  of  crops, 
and  to  the  support  at  the  same  time  of  large  numbers  of 
live  stock.  Wherever  the  latter  conditions  prevail,  the 
land,  if  otherwise  treated  properly,  will  maintain  its  fer- 
tility and  continue  the  production  of  remunerative  crops. 

These  things  being  true,  it  follows  that  live  stock  and 
mixed  farming  should  not  be  disconnected  from  special 
lines  of  farming.  The  cotton  farmer  needs  cattle  and 
sheep  and  hogs  to  consume  his  cow-pea  forage,  his  clover 
forage  and  his  corn  forage  that  were  produced  as  a  part 
of  the  crop  system  to  maintain  the  cotton  lands.  The 
wheat  farmer  needs  live  stock  for  a  proper  utilization  of 
straw  and  clover  and  alfalfa,  that  are  a  part  of  good  wheat 
farming.  The  corn  farmer  needs  hogs  and  cattle  to  con- 
sume grain  and  stover  and  the  rotation  crops,  that  his 
lands  may  remain  fertile  and  his  farming  plant  made 
better.  Humus  and  manure  must  be  had.  They  may 
come  from  green  crops  or  from  city  stables,  but  their  use 
must  never  be  ignored,  else  the  time  will  come  suddenly 
when  neither  chemicals  nor  tillage  will  avail  and  when 
the  land  will  be  thrown  back  on  Nature  for  restoration 


280 


SOILS 


and  for  a  renewal  of  life.  Then  crop  rotation  is  renewed, 
diversified  farming  follows,  and  the  land  becomes  fertile 
and  productive  again. 

Some  well-tried  rotations. — There  ought  to  be  many 
kinds  of  rotations,  for  rotations  ought  to  suit  the  farmer, 
the  farm,  and  the  district.  Hence,  no  tight-bound  rules 
should  prevail  at  any  discussion  of  this  subject. 

In  suggesting  a  few  rotations,  it  is  for  the  purpose  of 
suggesting  that  they  be  modified  to  suit  individual  con- 


TIMOTHY    MAY    GO    IN    ROTATION 

But  then  a  good  deal  of  plant  food  is  removed,  and  the  food  value  is  below 
either  clover  or  alfalfa 


ditions  as  nearly  as  possible,  but,  above  all,  for  the  rota- 
tion you  ought  to  keep  in  mind  these  things: 

There  is  to  be  a  money  crop. 

There  is  to  be  a  cultivated  crop. 

There  is  to  be  one  or  more  legume  crops. 

There  is  to  be  live-stock  feeding  crop. 

Rotations  planned  on  these  principles  are  certain  to 
•secure  the  most  satisfactory  results  only.  Take  this  old 
rotation — wheat,  clover,  potatoes.  Here  is  what  you 
have :  Two  money  crops — wheat  and  potatoes ;  a  culti- 
vated crop — potatoes;  a  legume  crop — clover;  and  two 
live-stock  crops — wheat,  straw,  and  clover. 


ROTATION    OF   CROPS  28 1 

Take  this  old  rotation — corn,  wheat,  clover,  grass — a 
four-year  rotation.  It  may  be  modified  by  being  in  corn 
two  years,  or  in  wheat  two  years,  or  in  grass  for  mowing 
or  grazing  two  years.  Still,  it  is  the  same ;  it  meets  the 
four  conditions — money  crops,  the  cultivated  crop,  the 
legume  crop,  and  the  live-stock  crop.  Why  have  you  no 
plan  in  operation  that  secures  to  your  land  a  change  in 
crops?  The  power  is  in  your  hand;  who  shall  hinder  you 
from  using  it? 


CHAPTER  XXIX 

THE  OLD,  WORN-OUT  SOILS:  WHAT  MAY  WE  DO  FOR 

THEM 

Maybe  some  of  your  tillable  land  is  unproductive;  it 
does  not  give  you  good  crops :  it  often  fails  in  rewarding 
you  with  returns  commensurate  with  the  labor  and  ex- 
pense you  have  bestowed  upon  it.  You  may  be  dejected 
and  despondent  over  the  outlook.  You  wonder  does  it 
pay,  and  the  question  comes,  the  same  one  again  and 
again,  What  may  I  do  to  change  this  state  of  affairs? 
How  may  I  restore  these  lands,  now  so  unresponsive  and 
so  unattractive,  to  their  old  positions  for  doing  things — of 
raising  crops  that  shall  be  worth  the  effort,  the  labor,  and 
the  expense? 

Just  take  comfort  in  this :  you  are  not  alone  in  your 
troubles ;  your  difficulties  are  not  visited  upon  you  only ; 
your  lands  are  not  the  sole  examples  of  their  kind,  requir- 
ing much  and  returning  little.  All  over  the  country  their 
like  exists — worn  out,  depleted,  exhausted,  almost  dead. 

But  here  is  the  comfort:  These  soils  possess  possibili- 
ties and  may  be  restored  to  high  productive  power,  pro- 
vided you  do  a  few  simple  things.  You  will  be  rewarded 
most  richly  if  you  do  these : 

1.  Improve  the  physical  life  of  the  soil. 

2.  Call  tillage  into  service. 

3.  Get  humus  into  the  soil. 

4.  Keep   live  stock   from   tramping   and   injuring  wet 
lands. 

5.  Come  into  close  contact  with  every  sort  of  manure. 

6.  Grow  legumes  constantly. 


THE    OLD,    WORN-OUT    SOILS 


283 


7.  Let  green  manures  help. 

8.  Rotate  crops  on  the  land. 

Improving  the  physical  condition  the  first  step. — You 
will  make  no  mistake  in  giving  prominence  to  the  physical 
improvement  of  the  soils.  It  is  the  first  step  needed  in 
the  work  of  rejuvenation.  A  soil  offers  little  when  its 


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IN   PERFECT   CONDITION 

The  seed-bed  has  been  made  well  and  the  mulch  is  holding  the  water  for  the 

crop 

physical  life  is  at  a  low  ebb.  A  plant  can  give  you  but 
a  small  harvest  if  its  soil  home  is  distasteful  to  it.  Just 
remember  these  two  facts.  It  may  be  you  will  find  your 
whole  trouble  located  here.  1'anish  the  trouble  and  your 
question  may  be  answered,  your  problem  may  be  solved. 
I  have  suggested  heretofore  what  may  be  done  in  help- 
ing these  old,  depleted  lands.  It  rests  with  you  to  diag- 


284  SOILS 

nose  the  cases  as  they  come  up  and  to  prescribe  the 
remedy.  If  they  require  drainage,  it  is  to  your  profit  to 
drain  them.  It  is  likely  that  nothing  else  will  avail. 
Certainly,  stiff,  wet  soils  are  useless  to  you  for  many 
kinds  of  crop.  You  gain  nothing  by  postponement — you 
lessen  your  income  only.  If  any  of  your  soils  are  sour, 
then  sweeten  them  with  lime,  and  put  them  in  fit 
condition  for  plants  that  would  do  their  best  if  their 
home  environments  were  only  such  that  they  might 
do  so. 

Call  tillage  into  use. — You  should  be  thinking  of  tillage 
much  of  the  time.  It  should  occupy  a  large  place  in  your 
thoughts.  It  should  be  a  sort  of  human  connection  with 
the  soil. 

Here  is  an  old  story : 

Once  upon  a  time  an  old  man  who  was  dying  called  his 
sons  to  his  bedside  and  told  them  in  whispers  that  in 
the  garden  a  treasure  was  hidden  which,  if  they  would 
dig  diligently,  they  would  find.  The  sons  could  hardly 
wait  to  bury  their  dead  father  before  thud,  thud,  thud, 
their  picks  were  going  in  the  garden.  Day  after  day 
they  dug;  they  dug  deep ;  they  dug  wide.  Yet  of  treasure 
of  silver  or  gold  found  they  none  as  they  feverishly 
searched.  But  still  no  treasure  was  found. 

"Our  father  has  deceived  us,"  one  said. 

"Let  us  not  lose  every  bit  of  our  labor;  let  us  plant  this 
pick-scarred  garden,"  said  the  eldest. 

So  the  garden  was  planted,  and  in  the  fullness  of  time 
the  earth  yielded  up  her  increase ;  and  when  it  was  seen 
how  wondrously  bountiful  was  the  harvest — and  so  unex- 
pected— the  father's  meaning  dawned  upon  them. 
"Truly/'  they  said,  "a  treasure  was  hidden  there.  Let  us 
seek  it  in  all  our  fields." 

The  story  applies  to-day  as  it  did  when  it  was  first  told. 


THE  OLD,  WORN-OUT  SOILS  285 

Deep  breaking  of  the  soil,  frequent  and  intelligent  til- 
lage— these  are  the  foundations  of  soil  restoration. 

Do  you  send  your  plow  deep  into  the  soil?  Perhaps 
deep  tillage  is  the  sort  of  medicine  your  land  needs.  If 
you  have  been  accustomed  to  plow  shallow,  just  try  this 
plan  :  the  next  time  you  plow,  set  your  plow  in  such  a 
way  that  it  will  go  deeper  into  the  soil — at  least  two 
inches.  And  the  next  time  go  two  inches  more ;  and  con- 
tinue to  do  this  until  you  get  a  plowed  body  of  land  at 


WHAT    HUMUS    UOES    IN    THE    SOIL 

least  nine  or  ten  inches  deep.  You  better  do  this  work 
gradually,  for  you  might  injure  your  land  by  turning 
to  the  surface  a  quantity  too  great  to  be  purified  and 
aerated  in  a  single  season.  Combine  with  this  good  plow- 
ing the  most  thorough  sort  of  culture;  use  every  sort 
of  preparation  tool  that  is  needed  to  secure  good  tilth  and 
a  good  seed-bed.  Thomas  Tusser  long  ago  expressed  the 
meaning  in  a  quaint  couplet : 

Good    tilth   brings   seeds, 
111  tilth,  weeds. 


286  SOILS 

Soils  that  are  plowed  deep  never  wash  away ;  gullies 
and  ditches  seldom  wrinkle  and  disfigure  where  the  plow 
is  intelligently  used. 

Get  humus  into  the  soil. — Another  step  in  soil  improve- 
ment is  taken  when  humus  is  got  into  the  soil.  You  can 
never  farm  successfully  without  the  co-operation  of 
humus,  for  it  is  the  backbone  and  the  life  of  the  soil. 

You  have  many  ways  of  securing  humus,  but  stable 
manure  is  best.  It  offers  a  big  opportunity  in  this  direc- 
tion. It  even  comes  to  your  very  door.  I  doubt  if  you  use 
it  to  the  very  best  advantage,  so  few  of  us  do. 

The  old  saying  that  runs, 

No   grass,   no   cattle; 
No  cattle,  no  manure; 
No  manure,  no  grass. 

applies  to  every  American  farm  to-day.  The  cry  of  a 
great  majority  of  farms  is  for  more  manure  and  for  better 
preserved  manure,  that  shall  be  applied  to  the  soil  more 
intelligently  and  more  thoughtfully  than  is  now  the  case. 

In  some  parts  of  the  country  stable  manure  is  never 
used ;  it  rots  and  ferments  and  finds  its  way  into  the  air 
and  streams  to  be  lost  forever  to  the  soil  and  world.  And 
what  a  loss  of  wealth !  Just  bear  in  mind  that  a  day  of 
reckoning  will  come,  and  if  you  have  been  guilty,  either 
you  or  your  children  will  have  the  penalty  to  pay.  No 
plea  will  protect  and  none  will  save.  Rob  the  soil  of  the 
humus  already  contained  in  it,  deny  admission  to  the 
humus  rightly  belonging  there,  and  the  earth  will  become 
sullen,  stubborn,  unkind ;  it  will  be  unproductive ;  it  will 
refuse  to  yield  forth  its  income. 

Live  stock  tramps  the  land  and  injures. — A  great  injury 
is  done  every  soil  when  live  stock  is  given  liberty  and 
freedom  over  it,  and  especially  when  fall  and  winter  and 


THE    OLD,    WORN-OUT    SOILS  287 

spring  are  on  with  their  wetness  and  cold.  Cattle  tramp 
the  land.  They  crush  the  soil  particles  together,  drive 
the  air  away,  induce  the  formation  of  clods  and  holes ; 
they  deaden  the  soil ;  they  drive  life  away.  Why  allow 
such  treatment  anyway?  Is  it  necessary?  Must  cattle 
be  given  dominion  over  the  entire  farm?  Certainly  not. 
Cattle  have  no  place  in  fields,  cultivated  or  grass  lands 
during  the  winter  months.  Their  place  is  in  stables,  or  in 
barnyards,  or  in  feeding  lots,  but  not  in  the  fields. 

Never  neglect  a  manure  of  any  sort. — You  should  never 
neglect  a  manure  of  any  kind.  Surely  not  the  home-made 
sort.  Make  a  lot  of  manure  on  your  farm.  Get  cattle ; 
get  all  kinds  of  live  stock.  Sell  your  crops  through  them. 
Never  go  to  a  single  line  in  crop  production.  It  means 
inefficiency ;  it  means  soil  depletion ;  it  means  a  worn-out 
farm. 

Study  these  problems  of  soil  building.  Ascertain  if 
your  land  is  lacking  any  special  element.  If  you  are  con- 
vinced that  such  is  the  case,  then  purchase  the  needed 
element  and  add  it  to  your  land.  With  a  small  effort  in 
the  line  of  experimentation  given  you  may  learn  some 
valuable  lessons  that  may  produce  wonderful  results. 

Grow  legumes  constantly. — Nothing  helps  old,  worn- 
out  soils  more  than  the  legumes.  They  give  nitrogen  and 
humus,  and  they  open  the  subsoil  to  air  and  water. 
Clover  and  cow  peas  come  first.  Either  one  or  the  other 
will  grow  in  your  climate  and  fit  into  your  work.  Take 
the  cow  pea,  for  instance.  It  is  an  admirable  plant  for 
a  depleted  soil.  Though  poor  tillage  be  provided,  though 
the  soil  be  hard  and  dead,  the  cow  pea  will  respond  with 
a  luxurious  crop.  Look  into  the  soil  and  you  will  find 
the  evidences  of  the  little  fairies  that  did  the  work — the 
bacteria  and  their  tubercle  homes — gathering  nitrogen  for 
the  plant  and  leaving  what  was  unused  in  the  soil  for  the 


288 


SOILS 


following  crop.  But  this  first  cow-pea  crop  may  not  be 
what  you  like  to  see ;  it  may  lack  vigor  and  aggressive- 
ness. But  just  wait,  and  the  next  year  repeat  the  work — 
use  the  same  crop  over  again.  Now  you  will  see  a  differ- 
ence, for  the  bacteria  have  increased  sufficiently  to  meet 
all  the  demands.  Now  you  get  your  reward !  Now  you 
become  a  friend  of  the  cow  pea !  And  the  same  is  true 
of  all  other  legumes — of  the  clovers,  of  the  soy  bean,  of 
the  vetches,  of  the  alfalfa. 

You  should  use  these  legumes  in  every  kind  of  rota- 
tion— a  legume  every  year  if  possible,  and  cow  peas  in 


GROW    LEGUMES    CONSTANTLY 


every  crop  of  corn,  using  the  last  cultivation  of  the  crop 
as  the  seeding  time  for  the  cow  peas.  This  is  a  practical 
way  to  do  this,  so  practical  that  thousands  of  farmers  in 
all  parts  of  the  country  have  adopted  it.  The  author 
harvested  thirty-six  bushels  of  corn  and  twelve  bushels 
of  cow  peas  from  a  field  a  few  years  before  abandoned 
and  forsaken  because  of  its  worn-out  condition,  which  has 


THE    OLD,    WORN-OUT    SOILS  289 

been  restored  to  high  productive  powers  in  just  the  way 
herein  described. 

Let  green  manures  help. — Some  soils  are  so  completely 
devoid  of  humus  it  often  is  best  to  center  the  first  effort 
in  humus  supply  to  them.  This  may  be  clone  by  the  use 
of  green  manures.  You  may  have  to  pick  your  crop.  For 
the  reason  the  soil  is  so  poor  it  may  refuse  to  do  much. 
You  had  better  use  the  cow  pea  for  this  purpose.  It  seldom 
will  fail.  Use  a  bushel  of  seed  per  acre,  applying  them 
broadcast.  \Yhen  mature,  plow  under,  turning  the  soil 
an  inch  or  two  deeper  than  the  previous  preparation.  The 
following  season  either  disk  the  land  or  replow  and  sow 
the  second  crop  of  cow  peas,  using  the  same  quantity  per 
acre  and  seeding  broadcast. 

This  second  crop  will  tempt  you  greatly  ;  you  will  be 
inclined  to  harvest  it  as  hay.  But  it  will  pay  you  to  re- 
main firm  to  your  original  resolution  ;  let  it  mature  and 
be  plowed  into  the  soil,  where  it  is  needed  for  the  nitrogen 
it  holds  and  for  the  humus  locked  in  its  rich  tissues. 

The  old  soils  deficient  in  fertility  it  will  pay  you  to 
assist.  Help  the  soil  and  crop  through  an  application  of 
fertilizers.  Something  like  this  will  do:  Mix  acid  phos- 
phate and  kainit  together — 1.500  pounds  of  the  former  and 
500  pounds  of  the  latter.  Of  this  mixture  use  from  200 
to  400  pounds  per  acre,  depending  upon  the  productive 
power  of  the  soil.  \\  ith  this  treatment  given,  your  old 
soils  will  soon  be  on  the  way  of  recovery  ;  they  soon  will 
be  available  for  all  sorts  of  crops. 

Rotate  crops  on  these  lands. —  Xow,  do  not  neglect  crop 
rotation.  Remember  that  this  neglect  in  the  past  was  one 
of  the  reasons  why  your  soils  became  worn  out  and  ex- 
hausted— one  reason  why  they  became  "run  down." 
Surely  you  do  not  want  this  to  happen  a  second  time. 
Crop  rotation  will  largely  help  in  preventing  such  a  con- 


SOILS 

dition.  It  matters  not  what  money  crops  you  grow,  give 
your  soil  a  change.  Introduce  legume  crops  frequently 
and  constantly.  They  will  keep  nitrogen  and  humus  in 
the  soil ;  they  will  keep  the  soil  mellow  and  friable ;  they 
will  open  the  subsoil  to  other  roots;  and  they  will  save 
the  land. 


CHAPTER  XXX 
CONCLUSION:  A  BIT  OF  PHILOSOPHY 

We  have  now  followed  the  progress  of  soil  building — 
followed  it  in  history  as  men  have  labored  and  struggled 
to  deduce  fundamental  principles  and  laws ;  followed  it 
from  the  time  the  earliest  soil  workers  and  soil  makers 
began  their  work ;  followed  it  as  the  elements  of  plant 
food  are  taken  up  and  converted  into  luscious  and  nutri- 
tious food  for  animal  and  man ;  followed  it  as  the  opera- 


ONE     KIND    OF     FARMING    THAT     IMPROVES     THE    LAND 

Let  your  farm  be  a   factory,  a  farm-factory,   where  most  of  the  crops  raised 
shall  be  consumed  as  feed  for  live  stock 


tions  of  tillage  have  gone  on  making  the  soil  better  and 
more  productive ;  followed  it  as  the  bacteria,  the  good 
fairies  of  the  soil,  have  rendered  plant  food  available  and 
air  nitrogen  assimilable  ;  followed  it  as  water  is  taken  into 
the  soil,  and  as  it  is  removed  by  plant  and  by  imperfect 
soil  management;  followed  it  as  sun  and  air  and  rain  help 
or  hurt;  followed  it  as  every  implement  of  tillage  and 


292  SOILS 

culture,  work  and  influence  assist  in  the  production 
of  remunerative  crops ;  followed  it  as  every  resource  is 
brought  into  use — the  manures  of  the  farm,  the  artificial 
plant  foods  of  the  commercial  factory,  the  nitrogen  of  the 
leguminous  plant ;  followed  it  as  old  lands  are  redeemed 
and  restored  to  life  and  productivity;  followed  it  as  all 
agencies  and  factors  that  improve  and  maintain  are  set  at 
work  that  the  greatest  good  may  result. 

And  yet  the  true  philosophy  of  farming  and  soil  man- 
agement is  expressed  in  the  few  simple  words  of  Lock- 
hardt :  "Good  farming  consists  in  taking  large  crops  from 
the  land,  while  at  the  same  time  you  leave  the  soil  in 
better  condition  for  succeeding  crops." 

The  true  philosophy  of  farming  is  correct  handling  of 
the  soil  that  abundant  vegetation  may  be  produced. 

A  story  is  related  of  a  celebrated  English  general  who 
had  charge  of  his  country's  troops  in  a  colonial  land,  and 
who  was  criticised  for  the  attention  he  gave  to  the  grow- 
ing of  crops  in  that  country. 

"General,  it  seems  to  the  War  Department  that  the 
thing  that  most  concerns  you  is  the  growing  of  forage  for 
bullocks." 

"Yes,  sir,"  the  general  replied ;  "that's  the  principal 
thing  in  carrying  on  a  successful  warfare  in  India  or  any 
other  country.  If  we  have  the  forage  we  shall  have  the 
bullocks ;  if  we  have  the  bullocks  we  shall  be  able  to 
support  the  men ;  and  if  our  men  be  well  supported  we 
shall  have  no  trouble  in  conquering  the  enemy." 

The  goal  of  soil  treatment:  better  crops. — It  is  indeed 
a  worthy  goal  that  we  have — to  so  treat  and  handle  our 
soils  that  we  may  grow  better  crops ;  to  ally  ourselves 
with  the  movement  of  increasing  the  food  supply  of  the 
world ;  to  join  hands  in  the  service,  that  higher  living  may 
be  possible.  Or  to  accept,  in  truth  and  in  fact,  as  a  part 


CONCLUSION  :     A   BIT   OF   PHILOSOPHY 

of  our  efforts,  the  noble  words  of  Jethro  Tull,  the  Father 
of  Tillage :  "Men  of  the  greatest  Learning  have  spent 
their  Time  in  contriving  Instruments  to  measure  the  im- 
mense Distance  of  the  Stars,  and  in  finding  out  the  Di- 
mensions, and  even  Weight  of  the  Planets :  They  think  it 
more  eligible  to  study  the  Art  of  plowing  the  Sea  with 
Ships,  than  of  tilling  the  Land  with  Ploughs,  they  bestow 
the  utmost  of  their  Skill,  learnedly,  to  prevent  the  natural 
Use  of  all  of  the  Elements  of  Destruction  of  their  own 
Species,  by  the  bloody  Art  of  War.  Some  waste  their 
whole  Lives  in  studying  how  to  arm  Death  with  new 


A    SURE    WAY    TO    RUIN    THE    FARM 

It  is  impossible  to  estimate  the  enormous  quantity  of  fertility  that  has  been 
sent  from  American  farms  in  baled  bundles 

Engines  of  Horror,  and  inventing  an  infinite  Variety  of 
Slaughter;  but  think  it  beneath  Men  of  Learning  (who 
only  are  capable  of  doing  it)  to  employ  their  learned 
Labours  in  the  invention  of  new  (or  even  improving  the 
old)  Instruments  for  increasing  of  Bread." 

We  must  keep  the  fertility  up :  we  must  annihilate  the 
soil  robber. — Just  go  into  any  old  section  of  the  country— 
into  New  England,  if  you  please.  There  you  find  many 
deserted  homes  and  abandoned  farms.  Why?  Because 
the  fertility  was  sold  and  none  replaced.  It  was  sent  away 


294  SOILS 

from  the  farms  in  bushel  baskets,  in  baled  bundles,  in 
cotton  sacks — by  the  pound,  by  the  bushel,  by  the  ton. 
Go  into  the  South — into  the  land  blessed  in  every  way 
beyond  measure.  You  find  impoverished  soils;  you  see 
worn-out  fields,  gullied  and  wrinkled  and  cast  aside.  The 
fat  of  the  land  was  gathered  up  and  shipped  away  in 
cotton,  in  tobacco,  in  corn,  and  none  was  returned  to  take 
its  place.  The  humus  was  used  up  and  burned  by  one- 
horse  plows  and  shallow  working  tools  and  the  land  was 
bereft  of  its  powers  of  high  production. 

Go  into  any  of  the  older  portions  of  the  country — go 
even  into  the  West,  into  the  newest  settlements.  You 
find  depleted  soils,  lands  robbed  of  fertility,  farms  render- 
ing their  owners  a  bare  existence.  Why  is  this  all  so 
true?  Because  the  soil  robber  in  every  instance  had  been 
present,  and  because  of  a  compact  with  the  fool  the  fer- 
tility has  been  taken  away  and  the  lands  reduced  to  the 
lowest  point  of  production. 

But  the  brighter  side  of  the  picture  is  coming  into 
view;  we  see  the  soil  robber  and  the  fool  far  in  the  dis- 
tance, disappearing;  we  see  the  intelligent  tiller  of  the 
soil  in  the  foreground,  already  at  work  with  vim  and 
courage  and  determination,  adding  humus  to  the  soil  and 
restoring  life  to  the  land.  And  so  every  earnest  husband- 
man can  take  courage,  for  the  land  is  not  lost  to  the  wise 
farmer — either  East  or  West,  or  North  or  South.  For 
brains  mixed  with  the  soil  and  applied  to  intelligent 
culture  will  restore  the  land  and  save  the  nation. 

Diversify  your  crops:  have  many  to  support  you. — It 
matters  not  what  your  line  of  farming — your  specialty — 
may  be,  you  must  have  the  help  of  many  crops.  Is  it 
wheat?  You  need  clover  and  grasses  for  humus  and 
nitrogen.  Is  it  corn?  You  need  animals  to  consume  it 
that  the  manure  may  be  returned  to  the  land ;  you  need 


CONCLUSION  I     A   BIT   OF   PHILOSOPHY 


295 


clover  and  alfalfa  as  preceding  crops  to  corn.  Is  it  cotton? 
You  need  cow  peas  to  subsoil  the  land,  to  get  all  humus 
that  is  needed,  and  to  provide  the  costly  nitrogen;  you 
need  the  clovers  and  the  cereals  to  feed  your  work  stock 
and  to  prevent  the  washing  of  the  soils  by  the  winter 
rains.  Is  it  potatoes,  or  truck,  or  a  cultivated  crop  of 


POTATOES        DAIRY     COTTON 


SEVEN    OF    OUR   LEADING    PRODUCTS 

When  sold  off  the  farm  just  so  much  plant  food  is  sent  away.  The  relative 
proportions  are  shown  above  and  apply  to  nitrogen,  phosphorus  and 
potassium  in  a  ton  of  each  product 


any  kind ?  You  need,  just  the  same,  cow  peas  and  clover ; 
you  need  a  variety  of  crops. 

All  these  things  you  need,  not  for  the  land's  sake  only, 
but  you  need  them  as  agents  in  the  support  of  your  busi- 
ness ;  you  need  them  for  the  improvement  of  your  farm- 
stead;  you  need  them  as  contributions  in  your  welfare 
and  happiness. 

Be  a  legume  farmer:  be  up  with  the  times. — In  the  old 
days  legumes  were  appreciated,  but  only  slightly  used. 
The  up-to-date  farmer,  who  prospers  and  improves  his 
plant,  is  now  a  legume  farmer.  Me  uses  one  or  more 
legume  in  every  rotation  to  get  all  needed  nitrogen,  to 


296  SOILS 

add  to  every  nitrogen  store,  to  get  the  best  crops  for 
feed,  to  get  the  best  yields  from  other  crops  that  follow. 
Do  your  work  well:  farm  intensively. — Equally  as  bad 
as  the  soil  robber  is  the  soil  killer — the  man  who  kills  and 
deadens  the  soil  by  ruthless  methods ;  who  farms  large 
areas  by  slashes  and  stabs;  who  takes  and  never  gives 
back  to  the  soil ;  who  farms  extensive  areas  but  harvests 


INTENSIVE  FARMING 
Good  tillage,  crop  rotation  and  an  abundance  of  humus  are  all  back  of  this  crop 

little  yields.  He  is  in  New  England,  where  his  hay  yields 
him  a  quarter  to  a  half  ton  per  acre;  he  is  in  the  South, 
where  his  quarter  a  bale  per  acre  of  cotton  is  produced 
at  a  loss  ;  he  is  in  the  West,  where  his  corn  is  but  "twenty" 
and  his  wheat  but  "thirteen" — and  neither  is  grown  at  a 
profit. 

You  cannot  afford  to  be  classed  with  this  tribe.  Yours 
must  be  another  caste  if  you  bear  any  respect  for  your 
family  or  yourself. 

Take  up  the  better  way,  the  way  of  doing  things  right 
and  square  and  manly.  Farm  wisely,  that  you  may  be 


•  CONCLUSION  I     A   BIT   OF   PHILOSOPHY  297 

a  man,  a  wise  man  at  work  with  Nature,  in  sympathy 
with  her  laws  and  decrees.  Take  the  sullen  and  stub- 
born soil  (rendered  so  by  the  bad  treatment  of  your 
predecessor)  and  render  it  so  gentle  and  pliable  and  re- 
sponsive that  henceforth  it  will  do  your  will. 

Eliminate  hand  work:  use  machinery. — The  farmer 
enters  into  his  own  at  the  very  moment  he  realizes  that  he 
ought  to  be  educated  ;  when  he  uses  his  powers  of  thought 
to  till  his  land  and  to  grow  his  crops ;  when  he  uses  his 
muscles  less  and  his  brain  more ;  when  he  spares  the 
physical  body  and  crowds  the  tool  or  machine  he  has 
created.  The  effect  of  the  elimination  of  hand  labor  and 
the  use  of  muscle-saving  machinery  on  the  physical  and 
mental  man  is  soon  apparent.  Before  the  coming  of  ma- 
chinery this  was  true,  as  Edward  Markham  has  said: 

Stolid  and  stunned,  a  brother  to  the  ox, 

He  stands  and  leans  on  his  hoe  and  gazes  on  the  ground; 

The  emptiness  of  the  ages  on  his  face, 

And  on  his  back  the  burdens  of  the  world. 

While  now  he  rides  and  directs  every  sort  of  machine 
that  is  made  to  do  his  will,  he  fittingly  represents  his 
highest  and  loftiest  mission.  Now  he  stands  as  Henry 
Jerome  Stockard  sees  him : 

Imperial  man!  co-worker  with  the  wind 

And  rain  and   light  and   heat  and  cold,  and  all 

The  agencies  of  God  to  feed  and  clothe 

And  render  beautiful  and  glad  the  world! 

Foremost  among  the  causes  that  have  occasioned  this 
change  in  physical  and  mental  man,  in  adding  case,  com- 
fort, and  length  of  life,  in  making  possible  the  nation's 
wealth  and  greatness,  is  the  application  of  machinery  to 
agriculture. 


298 


SOILS 


Consider  for  a  moment  the  ancient  man  with  his  sickle 
in  one  of  our  Western  wheat  fields  alongside  a  modern 
combined  header  and  thresher,  which  takes  twenty  feet 
at  a  "through"  and  drops  the  grain  off  in  sacks;  and  im- 
agine, if  you  can,  how  many  of  these  fellows  with  the 
sickle  it  would  take  to  harvest  our  immense  crops  of 
60,000,000  acres  of  wheat.  Put  our  ancient  father  with  his 
crooked  stick  for  a  plow  in  one  of  these  large  wheat  fields 
and  count  up,  if  you  can,  at  some  idle  hour  how  many 
like  him  it  would  take  to  do  the  work  of  the  man  who 


A  DEPARTMENT  OF  THE  FARM-FACTORY 

to-day  drives  the  modern  steam  gang-plow  at  the  rate 
of  ten  miles  per  hour,  taking  twenty-four  one-foot  furrows 
at  a  "through." 

If  we  to-day  used  the  old  hand  methods  and  produced 
our  present  food  supply,  fifty  millions  of  people  more  would 
need  to  be  added  to  our  population,  and  all  of  us  would 
be  required  in  our  agricultural  fields,  and  even  then  we 
should  need  to  eat  sparingly  and  to  fast  often,  else  the 
day  of  little  harvest  might  come  and  we  perish  alto- 
gether. 


CONCLUSION  :     A   BIT   OF   PHILOSOPHY 


299 


Feed  your  crops  to  live  stock :  make  the  farm  a  factory. 
— Let  your  farm  be  a  factory,  a  farm-factory,  where  most 
of  the  crops  raised  shall  be  consumed  as  feed  for  live 
stock,  that  finished  products  may  be  made  and  as  such 
be  sold,  rather  than  as  raw  materials,  in  which  form  they 
were  raised.  Such  a  system  of  farming  will  lead  to  per- 
manent improvement  of  the  soil ;  it  will  secure  from  it  the 
highest  efficiency.  These  things  it  means :  that  there 
shall  be  diversity  in  crops;  that  more  live  stock  shall  be 


"THRO'  WOOD  AND  MEAD" 


bred  and  fed  on  the  factory-farm  ;  that  the  entire  plant 
shall  be  managed  as  a  business  enterprise  of  the  largest 
magnitude. 

Study  your  work  and  be  a  man. — Finally,  your  business 
opens  widest  the  gates  of  opportunity  for  study  and 
development  and  right  living. 

The  following  words  of  Liberty  Hyde  Bailey,  as  beauti- 


300  SOILS 

ful  as  they  are  simple,  as  strong  as  they  are  true,  indicate 
the  ideal  of  your  regal  pursuit: 

I  teach 

The  earth  and  soil 
To  them  that  toil, 
The   hill   and   fen 
To   common   men 

That  live  just  here; 

The  plants  that  grow, 
The  winds  that  blow, 
The  streams  that  run, 
In  rain  and  sun 

Throughout  the   year; 

And  then   I   lead 
Thro'  wood   and  mead, 
Thro'  mold  and  sod, 
Out  unto  God. 

With   love  and   cheer,, 

I  teach. 


INDEX 


PAGE  PAGE 

Acidity  corrected 104         Cultivation,    depth   of 201 

detected     104             destroys    weeds 199 

Acid-made  manures,  when  to  use  75             saves    water 172 

helps   soil-making 9             shallow   and   deep 201 

Air    in    soils 36             time    for    203 

Aluminum  defined 61         Cultivators,    kinds    of 199 

Analyses,    early    faith   in 71         Culture,    level 203 

average   soils 66  Dairying,  a  balance  in  fertility..   261 

crops     80             and    wheat   compared 257 

determine   soil   needs 71             enriches    land 260 

fail  to  determine   fertility 72             makes    fat 257 

mechanical    30             remakes    soil 258 

numerous,    necessary 75             vs.    grain    255 

should    be    extensive 75         Decay    in    soil-making ig 

show  condition  of  plant   food..  76         Denitrification    123 

subsoil    76         Disking,    value    of 180 

typical    soils 27         Ditch,    digging    the 162 

value    of 74        Drain,    kind    of 159 

Animals    in    soil-making 20,  21          Drainage,   admits   air 154 

Barley,    analyses    of    plant    food  objection  to  open 160 

80,  81              outlet,    protect 1 63 

Barn-yards,    good   and   bad 211             tiles   the   perfect 161 

Berthelot 114             admits    air 1 54 

Blood,    dried 231             assists    manure 154 

Bone    235             assists    tillage 156 

Boussingault    112             deepens   soil 152 

Calcium    denned 60             function    of 152 

Calcium   in   good   supply 101             lengthens    season 156 

Capacity  of  soils  to  hold  water..  42             prevents    drouth 157 

Carbon  defined 56             prevents    washing 158 

dioxide  in  soil-making 9,  10            sanitary  effect  of 159 

function  of 56,  118            warms    soil 155 

secured   by   leaves 45             where    not    needed 159 

where   secured   45        Drains,    depth    of 162 

Cellulose  defined 50             distance    between 161 

Chlorine    defined 58         Drift   soils 15 

function  of 58         tlements,    constructive 118 

Circulation,    air 36             defined 52 

water    36  how  .  used S3 

Classification   of   soils 25         r  of   P'3"48--- Y""J"     tt 

Clay    soil    analysis 27  Evaporation    by   sun   and   wind..    166 

c^SWv:::::::::  i'  1&&KE£% 

Conn    quoted"                                '.'.'.  ,              Fertility    defined 5 

Corn,  analyses'  of  'plant  food".  '.80',  81  n'ore  Than"  soil! :.'              .•.•.V.8.5.'  ^5 

tM.    dairying    263             not   found  by  analysis 72 

soil    analysis....  .. 27         Fertilizer,   amount    to    use 251 

yield   in   North    Carolina 274  analyses    .                                          .    243 

Cotton  vs    dairying 263             percentages     254 

Cotton-seed    meal 232             problems    252 

Crops,   better 292              factory    mixed    239 

demands    for    food 81              homo    mixing 246 

diversifying    294             test   land    for 249 

for    various    soils 31             value    of 241 

Cultivation    checks    evaporation..  167  Field    tests   essential. ...........     78 


302 


INDEX 


PAGE  fAGK 

i-ilrns,   water. 37,  38        Manure,    amount   to   apply 224 

water,   in   soil 37             Erf  system  of  preserving 212 

Fish   dried   and   ground 232            green    289 

Food,    available,    small 66            handling    217 

forms    of    plant 64            influenced   by   bedding 209 

how  used  by  plant 50            jnfluenced  by   feed 207 

increased    92            influenced   by   stock 209 

supply    large 87            in    rotation 277 

Frost   in   soil-making n             large     mound 219 

Glacier    soils 15            losses  through   year 264 

Grain    vs.    dairying 255            methods  of  applying 218 

Grass    lands . 28            never     neglect 287 

soil    analysis 27  objections  to  hand  scattering.. .  219 

Growth    affected    by    soil 28            preservatives     214 

Gypsum    99,  i  oo            preserving     211 

Harrow,    function    of 192             small    piles    of 218 

kinds    of..... 193            solid   and    liquid 210 

Hay    vs.     dairying 263            spreader    for 220 

Heat    assists    soil-making 10            waste  and  wash  of 263 

Hellriegel    109,    114,  139            water   in 206 

Humus    affects    water    flow 40             when  to  apply 222 

effect    of   decaying 95            where    to   apply 223 

effect   on   soils 30        Markham  quoted 297 

holds  plant  food 66       Marl   99 

in    soil,    get 286        Metals    of    plant    growth 58 

Husbandry,    horse-hoeing 90  Mississippi    action    on    soils 13 

Hydrogen   defined 54        Moisture    in    soil-making 10 

function    of 55        Molasses  illustrates  osmosis 47 

Ice    helps    soil-making 14        Mulching,     benefits    of 173 

Improvement,   first  steps  in 283        Mulch,    making    effective 174 

Inoculation    by    pure    culture....  149        Nature   slow   worker 90 

by   soaking   seed 148  New    Hampshire    manure    experi- 

by  soil   148                    ments    225 

essentials    151        Nitrification    defined 126 

methods    of 147           essential     128 

what   it   means 144            when    favored 75 

Intensive    farming 296       Nitrogen  defined 55 

Iron  defined 61            fixation 109,    135,  140 

Kames   quoted 266            fixed  in   soil 135 

Kainit    237             function   of 56,    118,  227 

Laboratory  defects 73            gathered  by  tubercles 137 

Lawes  &  Gilbert 112,  137            how   lost    133 

Leaves    secure    food 45            increased  by  legumes 85 

wither   to  save   water 50            losses  of 122,  133 

Legume    farmer,    be    a 295            more    needed 136 

function    of 114            preventing  losses   of 134 

grow    constantly 287            reclaiming    134 

increase    nitrogen 85           secured   by   inoculation 150 

necessary  in   rotation 273           sources  of 119,  230 

secure    nitrogen 136           where    secured 45 

Liebig    in,  112        North    Carolina   corn   yield 274 

Lime   affects    soil   particles 103  Oats,  analyses  of  plant  food.. 80,  81 

applying    105  Ohio  station  manure  experiments  217 

corrects    acidity 104            manure  experiments ..225,  263 

function    of 101  Organic  matter  modifies  soils....  35 

gas    101        Osmosis    defined 47 

kinds   used    99       Oxygen    defined 53 

promotes  good  texture 102           function    of 54 

quantity  to   use 106            in    soil-making 9 

Lime-spreader    106           where  secured    45 

Liming    99       Packing,    sub-surface 182 

when  to  practice 75        Phosphorus    defined 57 

Litmus     104            function  of S7.  228 

Machinery   preferred 297            sources   of 45,  233 

Magnesium   defined 60       Potash  defined 5& 

Manure,  accumulative  effect  of. .  225           function    of 60 


INDEX 


303 


PAGE  PAGE 

Potash,  muriate 237        Tankage    232 

office   of 228  Temperature    helps    soil-making. .  10 

sources    of 236        Texture  improved  by   lime 102 

sulphate     237             improving    93 

where  secured..' 45            may  be  modified 35 

Potassium,    function   of 228  Thome's       manure      experiments 

Plant  composition 45  225,  263 

food,   available 67,     69        Tiles,   advantages   of 161 

food   supply   large 87             the   perfect   drain 161 

food,    unavailable 69        Tillage  benefits 92 

Plants  assist  soil-making 19            checks    denitrification 124 

demands  upon  plant   food 79            destroys    weeds 97 

exhaust   soil 271  effect  of 91,     92 

in    soil-making 17             jncreases    moisture 96 

prefer   certain   soils 24            increases  plant   food 94 

prehistoric     18            natural     88 

Plow,    disk 191             practising    284 

gang   191        Tobacco    soil   analysis 27 

one-horse    189        Tools,    interculture 198 

work   it   should    do 186            preparation    192 

ancient  and  modern 185        Transpiration    164 

various    189        Truck    soil   analysis 27 

Plowing,    poor,    example 188        Tubercles,    root 114,  137 

Pore-spaces    in    soil 37        Tull,  J 90 

Production  related  to  soil  texture     87             quoted    203 

Protoplasm    defined 50        Types   of    soil 26 

Roberts'    manure    experiments...    223             of    soil,    secondary 30 

Roller,    function   of 93         Ville    114 

Root,   method  of   growth 41        Voelcher  113 

wastes    275        Water,   capillary 40 

depth   of    86            capacity    to    hold 42 

in    soil-making 21             conserving     205 

secure    food 45             films 37,  38 

Root-hairs,  action 47            gravitational    40 

function     of 46            helps    soil-making 12 

Rotation,  destroy  weeds 274             holding  capacity  of  soils 42 

example    for   50   years 82             holding    increased 96 

examples    of 280           hygroscopic    40 

for  different  fields 276            increased     196 

manure    in 277            increased   by   compaction 196 

on   worn   land 289            in   soils,   kinds   of 40 

with   mixed    farming 279            in   soil-making 10,      12,  14 

Running  out  of  soils,  the  cause  of     85            lifts  plant   food 41 

Saltpeter  23 1            passes  through   soil 38 

Sandy     soils    modified 35             saved   by   leaves   withering 50 

Sap   flow 47            saved  by  tillage 167,  172 

Shells    10 1             saving    184 

Silicon    defined 56             saving  means  early   work 204 

function    of 57             sorts    soils 14 

Size   of    soil    particles 24             three  kinds  in  soil 40 

Snyder's    manure    experiments.  .  .    225             used  up  by  weeds IQQ 

Soda,    nitrate 230  Weeds    affect    water    content....  199 

Sodium  defined 60  Wheat,    analyses    of    plant    food 

function   of 60  80,  81 

Sourness    in    soils 104             and   dairying  compared 257 

Spreader,  manure 220            continuously    grown 261 

Stables     2:3            lands     28 

Stock,   feed  crops  to 298             soil    analyses 27 

injures    soil 286        Wilfarth IOQ,    1 14,  139 

Stubble,   managing 179        Wind     helps    soil-making 15 

Subsoil   defined 4        Woll    on    dairying 255 

differs    from   surface 76        Work,    eliminate    hand 297 

plant    food    from 86  Worn-out     soils     not     exhausted..  87 

Sulphur    defined 57        Worms    help    soil-making 21 

f ninth. ii    of 57        Yeast    action 144 

Symbiosis  defined 140       Ycddes,   quoted *77 


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